I felt my body heating up as I watched the sun's rays reach down and touch my already sunburned skin. My skin was dark from the mud and the same held true to all the other boys. I desperately wanted a pair of scissors so I could cut the hair out of the way of my eyes. I missed my toothbrush too. I missed the everyday things I took for granted but most importantly I missed my home. We had been on the island so long now that it surprisingly started to feel like normal, to feel like home. But it was not my home. Rescue was still the first thing on my mind. Simon seemed to sense how I felt and reassured me that we'd get back to where we came from but a small part of me didn't believe it. The boys wanted meat so I let Jack lead the hunt. A pig was no more than five yards away from me, I lined it up with my spear and threw it toward the wild animal. It hit its mark and the pig squealed loudly before it took off running into the undergrowth. The pig escaped but we weren't satisfied. Robert made a snarling sound and pretended to be the pig, while we all circled around and pretended to hunt him. We were running out of time to get to the mountain top to search for the beast. I led the group along the ocean rocks and realized we'd be leaving Piggy alone with the littluns all night. Simon offered to go back to tell Piggy that they would not be back until later and I let him. I thought it would be a good idea to wait until light again for us to climb the mountain to search for the beast but Jack decided he wanted to go and I couldn't let him make me look like a coward so I went too. Roger went too and the three of us scaled the mountain. At the top was the beast. We took of running before it had seen us as it bowed and plopped.
We returned to the beach where Piggy and the littluns were. We told Piggy what we had seen up on the mountain. Jack had my conch and had blown into it to signal a meeting. I was mad about that but I let him start off the meeting when everyone arrived anyways. He asked the boys who they thought should be chief and no one dared to say him. I was glad but Jack stormed off into the distance saying how he was leaving the group forever and that anyone could go join him too. Piggy tried to tell me that he'd be back by nightfall but something told me otherwise. Then Piggy suggested we build the fire down on the beach so we wouldn't have to climb up the mountain to where the beast was. It was a brilliant idea and I had everyone start building it. There were some boys missing, mostly the biguns but we didn't need them. We were doing just fine on our own. The wood we collected was damp and hardly worked for our fire but it was the best we could do for now. A group of boys from Jack's tribe came running out of the woods, scaring all the littluns. They raided us for our fire. They needed it for themselves without Piggy's glasses. He even tried to sway everyone to follow him by inviting those who wanted to a feast. I hoped no one else left to join him.
Personal Connection: These chapters relate to my life because Ralph and Jack challenge each other to do things they would never do without the other being there to push the other. Jack challenges Ralph's authority and courage when climbing up the mountain to search for the beast and that is what causes Ralph to go along even though it is dark out. I am like that with my friends, we always try to out-do each other in everything since we are competitive. These things lead to good and bad things but there is no doubt we would not do them without each other.
Quote: The quote, "Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering." on page 115 in chapter 7, Shadows and Tall Trees, is important because it is showing how even Ralph, the rational type character is now turning wild. He has been on the island so long that he is started to become like Jack, in search of the blood of a pig after he had fun wounding one on his first hunt.
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