Lord of the Flies Character Monologue Samneric

If things had gone the way Ralph had planned, we would not be like this. We know what you’re thinking, you should have listened to Ralph, but what use would that have been with Jack around.

Now Ralph, we know you only tried to do what was best, keeping the signal fire going so that we can be saved. Just think about it, if you had listened to Jack’s opinions, we’d be in a better position than we are now. As we said before, “‘what's the good’" (180)? Trying to keep a fire going when it was just the both of us, Piggy, and you made no sense. It never did work. If you had made a compromise with Jack, we could have had a better, longer lasting fire going.

As for you Jack, we both, as well as almost everyone else, thought that you took things too far. Sure we all wanted meat, but if you helped Ralph out once in a while, he wouldn’t have had to yell at you like he did. “‘All the same—’” (191), you could have talked things out with Ralph, but instead, you went on doing things without even thinking. If it weren’t for the actions of you and the hunters, we’d still have Piggy and Simon with us.

To think that going to the feast that Jack invited all of us to was a good idea. At the time, we thought “[t]hat must be fun…’” (157), but really, Jack was trying to get us to join his tribe. If we all weren’t caught up in the feast, Simon might not have died. Simon was a good guy, but then again, we may never know what he was trying to tell us. All we both heard him say was “something about a dead man on a hill” (168). Also, even though Simon wandered off by himself once in a while, he did what was expected of him. He helped build all the shelters and stayed with Ralph the whole time before he died.

The same thing goes for Piggy. He had good ideas and only tried to help Ralph keep things in order. Piggy was right in many things. We both agree with Piggy, would we have been better off “‘to be a pack of painted Indians like [Jack was], or to be sensible like Ralph [was]’” (200)? Also, would it have been better “‘to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill’” (200)? If Piggy was still with us, he’d probably would “talk sense”, telling us that what we did wrong perhaps.

For the record, we did all we could to protect you, Ralph. When we were part of Jack’s tribe, we had no choice but to do what he wanted so that we could stay alive. No matter what, we had told you that it would be best for you “‘to go for your own good.’” (209). We had told you that “‘[t]he Chief and Roger –… They’re going to do you’” (209) and to “‘[k]eep away. As far as you can’” (210). If you and Jack would have got along better, thing might have turned out better than they were.