Even up to the moment of his death, Piggy’s perspective doesn’t shift in response to the reality of their situation. At their little assembly, he demands action, still relying on Ralph to get things done despite the obvious disregard for his authority shown by all of Jack’s tribe. Piggy cannot think as the others think or value what they value. Because his eminently sensible approach to life is modeled on the attitudes and rules of the authoritative adult world, he thinks everyone should share his values and attitudes as a matter of course. Speaking of the deaths of Simon and the littlun with the birthmark who had first brought up the beast as a concern, he asks “What’s grownups goin’ to think?” as if he is not so much mourning the boys’ deaths as he is mourning the loss of values, ethics, discipline, and decorum that caused those deaths. Claiming that Jack has “got to” return his glasses because “what’s right’s right,” he reveals that he holds a certain code of ethics to be universal and non-negotiable, as fundamental as fire. In reality ethics originate from a particular society’s values and expectations; Jack’s subculture has radically different ethics from Ralph’s.
Samneric fully appreciate this difference; their change in perspective is evident at the assembly. In Chapter 6, they speak mockingly of a schoolmaster nicknamed Old Waxy as if his waxing anger was nothing to fear. Now they fear for their lives, saying that if Jack “gets waxy we’ve had it.” Even more devastating to their morale is Ralph’s oddly timed outburst of “smoke! We’ve got to have smoke.” From his delivery, they realize Ralph can’t remember why they need smoke but is just mouthing the words as a sort of desperate plea for clarity. Piggy, too, grasps that Ralph has forgotten the purpose of smoke; his reminder of smoke’s purpose makes Ralph defensive. Ralph’s denial of his fallibility causes them to view him as fallible. They look at him as though “seeing him for the first time”: a boy trying to accomplish what an adult would have difficulty achieving in these circumstances — reasoning with a pack of killers.
