Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight was called A Gift for Darkness, and it starts off with the power struggle we constantly see between Jack and Ralph.  The conch, which ultimately symbolizes power and government, is blown by Jack, something that never happened before.  Ralph always blew the conch, because Ralph was chief and that was his duty.  But Jack totally ignores this, and he goes ahead and calls a meeting.  During the meeting, Jack basically twists Ralph's words and makes it seem like he's against the hunters.  Jack declares that Ralph "Isn't a proper leader" and then proceeds to storm out of their little civilization because no one agrees with him (126).  Also in the chapter, Simon has this insane hallucination with a new character, the Lord of the Flies.  The Lord of the Flies isn't really a person, but a pig's head surrounded by flies that Simon thinks is talking to him.  The Lord of the Flies claims that HE is the beast, and that Simon was right along; he cannot be killed, because he exists only in their minds. 
The Lord of the Flies literally gave me a nightmare the first time I read the book, but now that I read it again, I find that it's actually pretty funny and ironic.  In the book, Simon represents a sort of innocence and goodness, but he also has a great deal of logic.  He likes seclusion, which some of the other boys think is strange.  The Lord of the Flies basically tells Simon things that he has been thinking all along.  I sort of think that The Lord of the Flies was a part of Simon's conscious, telling him to both recognize that what he originally thought was correct, and also telling him that he needed to let go of that want to be alone.  I think his conscious self knew that the boys thought he was "batty", so he was trying to save Simon, not frighten him.
When The Lord of the Flies is speaking, I found one particular line VERY interesting.  The Lord of the Flies says that the boys are being silly, that Simon is being silly, because he cannot be killed.  I think Golding was portraying the fact that though we may not realize it, fear lives inside each and everyone one of our heads.  Simon doesn't appear to be very scared of anything, he even SAYS that he doesn't believe in the beast, yet he starts having visions of something that sounds incredibly scary.  I believe that The Lord of the Flies symbolizes the fear that every one has, the fear that gets amplified so much when the boys are put in such a difficult situation.