1. Castle Rock and Cry of the Hunters
Chapters 11 and 12 by Faith Metcalf, Elizabeth Rauchet, and Christiana Regenauer 

2. Chapter 11-Castle Rock
Chapter 11 is titled Castle Rock, in reference to Jack and his “tribe’s” side of the island, where most of the action in this chapter takes place.
 Ralph, Piggy, Samneric, and some littluns are having an assembly in order to retrieve Piggy’s glasses from Jack and his tribe.
Note- page 169, “’Blow the conch,’ said Piggy.” Shows Piggy is an advisor to Ralph, as he has been throughout the allegory.
Ralph is dependent on Piggy’s glasses to create a smoke signal, a motif that is symbolic of rescue.
Note-page 170, ““Are we savages or what?’” Ralph asks this question to his “tribe". This question makes the reader notice how much the boys have changed and how much they have endured. 
Ralph and his “tribe” devise a plan to retrieve Piggy’s glasses from Jack.
Note- motif: darkness. Page 170, “’at night, in darkness, and stole our fire.’” Darkness represents Jack and his evil ways.
Essential question- Do individuals control groups, or do groups control individuals?

3. On their journey to Castle Rock, Ralph leads, followed by Samneric, who drag their spears for Piggy to follow. 
Once the boys reach Castle Rock, “Savages appeared, painted out of recognition, edging round the ledge toward the neck.”(pg.175) The omniscient narrator reveals Jack’s boys have lost all concept of civilization and are complete savages.
Ralph attempts to create order, stating, “`I’m calling an assembly`” (pg.175). Jack appears after hunting, questioning Ralph for coming to his side of the island. Ralph quickly loses his temper, accusing Jack of being a thief, and a fight breaks out between the two boys.
Note-page 177, “`Ralph-remember what we came for. The fire. My specs.`” Piggy’s statement further proves he is a voice of reason and advisor to Ralph.  The boys cease fighting, and Ralph makes his objectives on the importance of the fire. The savage tribe listens and laughs “unreal laughter” (pg.178). Jack, distracted by Samneric, tells his tribe to "` Grab them!`”(pg. 178), showing Jack’s love of power. The twins “protested out of the heart of civilization”(pg.178). The omniscient narrator’s description exemplifies Ralph and his tribe’s civility, in contrast to Jack and his tribe.

4. Jack seizes the twins and his tribe, realizing their own power, fell the twins “clumsily and excitedly”(pg.179). By describing the boys’ actions as “clumsy” and “excitedly”, the omniscient narrator draws the reader’s attention to how young and inexperienced the boys truly are.
Ralph loses his temper and yells at Jack, stating, “`You’re a beast and a swine…`”This is very ironic. Jack is obsessed with hunting a pig, or “swine”, and Ralph refers to him as the very creature he is hunting and killing.
Ralph charges Jack. The boys fight briefly, until interrupted by Piggy who states, “`Let me speak`”(pg. 179). Piggy, questioning the boys’ ways, asks, “`Which is better, law and recue; or hunting and breaking things up?`”(pg.180). This quote not only relates to the boys’ conflict throughout the book, but also to war. In the allegorical sense, war could be considered as “hunting and breaking things up.”
The boys erupt into chaos. Deliriously, Roger leans on the lever, releasing a boulder. Ralph quickly dodges the boulder, but Piggy is struck chin to knee; “while the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist”(pg.181). The conch symbolizes order. When the conch breaks, it can be interpreted that order is lost. Piggy is flung 40 feet down and lands on a red rock in the sea.
Note-red. Red represents violence and evil. Piggy’s death is an exemplar of a violence, with much red imagery such as, “red rock”(pg.181),and ,“stuff came out and turned red” (pg.181).
The boys are silent for a moment after watching the sea take away Piggy’s dead body. Jack viciously throws his spear at Ralph, who avoids it and instinctively flees from Castle Rock. He leaves behind Samneric, whom Roger advances “upon them as one wielding a nameless authority”(pg. 182). Roger’s advancement upon the nameless twins is an allegory for the Holocaust. Prisoners in the Holocaust lost their names, just as Samneric have lost their own names.

5. Comments and Questions
Note- silence. A motif utilized to demonstrate the occurrence of a very serious, significant event, such as Piggy's death .
Note-green. Green represents calmness and gentleness, on page 171, “the green light was gentle about them.”
Note-rocks. Roger throws rocks at Ralph and Samneric, and eventually releases the boulder, ending Piggy’s life. Rocks symbolize power, as seen on page 175, “Some source of power began to pulse in Roger’s body.”
Question-When else has Roger thrown rocks? At whom/what?
Note- Piggy’s death. “Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed.”
Question-What is ironic about this statement?
Essential Question- How do actions of characters reveal their personalities?

6. Chapter 12- Cry of the Hunters
It is important to note that the chapter is entitled “Cry of the Hunters” to refer to the chants of Jack and his hunting gang. The chant, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!,” becomes more terrifying and less specific. This title refers also to Jack and his tribe’s cries when hunting Ralph, “like the cry of a flying bird” (pg.192).
The chapter starts with Ralph worrying about his wounds. He decides against cleaning them because he thinks the other boys might capture him.
Do you think Ralph is really safe on the island?
Note that on page 183, Ralph’s hair was “full of dirt and tapped like the like the tendrils of a creeper.” This shows how he has changed into a less civilized person because instead of moving his hair out of his face like he usually does, he merely leaves his dirty hair as it is.
Ralph, who is not far from the Castle Rock, thinks he sees Bill. He reasons with himself that the boy is not Bill, but a savage in striped brown, red, and black, completely different from the boy in shorts and shirt he once knew.
Pg 183- “But really, thought Ralph, this was not Bill. This was a savage whose image refused to blend with that ancient picture of a boy in shorts and shirt.”

7. Ralph, realizing that he is now safe (for the time being), thinks about the deaths of Simon and Piggy. He is so overwhelmed that he cries out loud.
Pg 184- “No fire; no smoke; no rescue.” The fire and smoke, symbols of being rescued, are gone, and without them, hope of being rescued is diminished.
Ralph notices the Lord of the Flies, which is now just a skull. Ralph decides to fight it. He knocks the skull from the stick, which he takes to use as a spear.
Ralph still hears the hunters' chant: "Kill the beast. Cut his throat. Spill his blood.“
Ralph sneaks to the Castle Rock camp that night and he finds the twins guarding the entrance. They give Ralph food but they don’t join him. They tell him that Ralph has a stick with two sharpened ends. Why might this be significant?

8. The next morning Ralph overhears Jack torturing one of the twins to find out where Ralph could be (pg 192).
Some of the hunters try to break into the thicket where Ralph is hiding with a boulder, but fail to do so. They then try fighting their way in, but Ralph defends himself.
Ralph, overcome with an adrenaline rush, smells smoke and realizes that Jack and his crew are trying to smoke him out. He runs through the trees, fighting the other boys, and finally stumbles upon the beach.
It is at the beach that Ralph meets a man, a naval officer. (pg 200)
The officer saw all the smoke coming from the island and came to rescue them from their “war.”
When asked who is the boss, Ralph loudly says “I am.” Why might this be significant?
While trying to explain their situation, Ralph begins to sob uncontrollably, too overwhelmed by the fact that they are rescued.
Pg 202- Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.

9. Symbols and Motifs
• WHITE - pg. 194: “Presently the white, broken stumps, the split sticks and the tangle of the thicket refocused.” The color white represents innocence. Ralph is hiding in the white tangle, showing his innocence.
• GREEN - pg. 195: “Presently he saw open space, and the green leaves of the edge of the thicket.” Green is symbolic of calmness and peace, as previously seen in chapter 11.
• SILENCE - pg. 193: “Still silence.” The motif of silence is symbolic of seriousness and somberness. Silence is the only peace the boys have on the island.
• DARKNESS - pg. 197: “….unless the savage chose to die down and look for you; and even then, you would be in darkness.” The omniscient narrator uses darkness to show the evil of the boys on the island
• SMOKE - The Navy saw the smoke, which eventually did lead to their rescue.
• CRYING - Ralph begins to cry at the end of the chapter. He is overwhelmed by the actions of the “war on the island” which can relate to the real war, World War 2.
• ANIMAL IMAGERY - pg. 189, 193: “...like a pig.” The omniscient narrator utilizes this phrase to show how savage the boys’ behavior has become.