Lord of the Flies, Chapter 2

Fire on the Mountain

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

At first, I didn't think that much of Ralph, but he's a pretty cool guy. When I first saw him, I just saw a gangly young boy who had no idea what he was in for, but he has gained my respect with his wisdom. I still don't like that I have to take orders from him, but he's not a bad leader. Today when everybody was panicking about the "snake beastie", Ralph did a good job raising everybody's spirits. I mean, him talking about how his dad has a ship, and somebody will find our island and rescue us, got me excited. But Ralph should still take those notices seriously, instead of joking around. What if there is a beastie, and we're all in danger? Ralph doesn't want to do anything about it, but I will make sure my choir searches high and low. We cannot risk the safety of the community.

I am so glad that Ralph thought of starting that bonfire to catch the attention of ships and planes, because I don't think any of us would have thought of that. But as soon as Ralph said "fire" almost all of us started capering and running up to the top of the mountain. I am sure that our ebullience upset Piggy. He's always trying to organize everything. Ralph is in charge, not stupid old Piggy. That kid really pushes my buttons. Always whining, never standing up for himself;it all just gets annoying and old. He is an officious fat boy that doesn't know the first thing about running a community.

At the fire, Piggy got heated up about the fact that Ralph didn't know how many kids were in our community. And then he got mad about Ralph pinching his specs so we could start the fire. He helped us! I don't see why he's complaining. I am so tired of all of this recrimination. Ralph says somethings, Piggy squeals in retaliation about some nonsense; it's all a pattern. I am sure that everybody else has grown old with this. But when Piggy was talking, he mentioned that nobody knew where all the little kids were, and that got me worried. As soon as the words left Piggy's mouth, the fire licked the pricklies, and the fire expanded. Then Piggy started asking about where the kid with the weird birthmark went, but in a for-example tone, and not so long after we found out that the kid died in the fire. If we wish to survive, I think there has to be some organization around here. Or else.