Most societies judge character to a great extent by how an individual behaves, how thoroughly a person has internalized the mores and ethos of civilized society. British culture, in particular, places a high value on maintaining civility even under adverse circumstances, the mask of good manners concealing strong emotions and impulses. Jack discovers the other side of a mask’s power — the power to liberate — when he applies the clay and charcoal camouflage: “the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.”
While the masks of polite society leash our evil nature, Jack’s mask of colored clay unleashes it. The mask — or the transformation it invokes — frightens the hunter Bill, who initially laughs but then backs off into the jungle, and it compels the twins to abandon their fire tending duties, a symbol of how they are being drawn away from all of the civilized domesticity and communal hope for rescue represented by the fire. Jack refers to the mask as “dazzle paint,” the camouflage used in warfare, clearly linking his new identity as a shameless killer with those adults fighting the war.
When the ship is sighted, Ralph remains calmly in place while the other boys present blunder around in excitement. Yet, when he realizes that there is no smoke signal for the ship to sight, he loses the calm that has so far characterized his behavior — the mask over his emotions. Now he rushes heedlessly up to mountain to the fire site, “savaging himself” on the bushes, reaching the top only to see that the fire is out and the ship is leaving.
