Ralph has clearly learned something about establishing a forum for discussion: “One had to sit, attracting all eyes to the conch, and drop words like heavy round stones among the little groups that crouched or squatted.” Golding’s word choices here evoke a distinct sense of primitivism, a savage lifestyle where words are stones and the chief presides over an electorate that crouches and squats to hear him speak. Just as Chapter 4 lays out a series of microcosms with the littluns’ interactions, the diction here links the platform assemblies to both ends of the social or civil spectrum, from pre-verbal tribe gatherings to modern governmental institutions.
With hunting, Jack has a skill that is becoming increasingly more persuasive to the group in their present environment than does Ralph. Jack’s appeal to the primitive, baser, instinctive nature of the community, coupled with his aggressive, self-assured combative personality, is now appealing more and more to the group. At the same time, Ralph’s political and natural leadership abilities coupled with his visceral optimism and common sense are having diminishing impact on the affairs of the boys as their baser natures become increasingly prevalent.
In this chapter’s assembly, Ralph’s new appreciation for thought leads him to rely too heavily on logic. While he presents his agenda point by point, attempting a rational approach to the fear he knows they feel, night is falling and the boys are growing restless. “We’ve got to talk about this fear and decide there’s nothing in it,” he says, as if a phobia can be defused through discussion. As the brainy representative of civilization, Piggy continues along these utterly rational lines. “‘Life,’ said Piggy expansively, ‘is scientific’” in his explanation that such an emotional concern can be addressed as a pathology with the twentieth-century invention of psychology. His assertion that soon humankind would by flying to Mars indicates his confidence in technology, which he holds out as a source of comfort.
