This chapter begins and ends ominously. The aerial battle that opens the chapter establishes that war continues to rage in the world where most of the boys long to return. Ralph, Piggy, and Simon finished the previous chapter detailing the merits of adults and adult behavior, how adults would remedy their unpleasant situation with ease and dignity. Yet that night, “a sign came down from the world of grownups” that is frightening and mysterious and changes the entire complexion of the group for the worse. When Samneric establish to everyone’s satisfaction that an actual beast does exist, the boys shift automatically and instinctively into an aggressive mode based on fear: “the circle began to change. It faced out, rather than in, and the spears of sharpened wood were like a fence.”
The main theme of this chapter is the effect of fear. For Samneric, their initial fright magnifies their involvement with the creature from merely seeing movement and hearing the parachute to being actively chased down the mountain as they flee. They report eyes, teeth, and claws that they couldn’t possibly have seen. The other boys are so eager for a remedy to this fear that they feel the first unified urge for mutiny when Ralph forces them to leave the perceived safety of the fort-like castle rock to check on the fire.
