The Secret Life of Bees Book Review

The Secret Life of Bees, a novel written by Sue Monk Kidd, has a very interesting plot. The story was set in Sylvan and Tiburon, South Carolina in the 50's or 60's when their were many racists and African Americans were looked down upon. In my opinion, this book was very good because it had an interesting story line and had parts of the story that I could relate to. I think that it had a good plot because not a lot of books have this type of story line. The main character Lily tries to find out more about her mom, but ends up finding out more about herself, and along her journey she finds motherly figures that end up loving her like a daughter.

The smaller characters do not change much throughout the book but the main character changes back and forth into completely different personalities. I think that the writing style of the author was a lot like many other writing and it could have had a more unique style to make the book more interesting. It seemed like the author would have made the book more exciting if it had been in third person so you could see from the perspectives of the other characters because some characters stayed mysterious and were left out of the book in many parts and it would have been interesting to see what they had been doing too.

The plot of the story was that the main character, Lily, was trying to find out more about her mother’s life, and basically, about her life before she died. She decides to go on a journey where she struggles to find out who she is, and even more than that, the secret of her mother’s death. Along her journey she runs into a family who she becomes very close to. Lily becomes close to each of the characters in the family in a different way. In one character she finds love, in another, a motherly figure, in one a friend and in another, someone to trust and look up to. This is a good book for people who like stories where character's lives and feelings are the main focus to the book and not action.

In this book, Lily is the main character and the book is shown from her perspective. Throughout the book, her character's personality changes a lot. Starting out in the book, Lily is a very shy person and she always is respectful to her father and tries to follow the rules even if she doesn't like them. Into the book she realizes what she can do with her life, like go on an adventure, and completely changes. All of the characters in this book are usually very serious and so it wouldn't be a good book for people who like books that are full of action or comedy.

Overall, the book is full of love of family and the main character trying to understand herself and her mother more. I would recommend this book to people who like when books move at a slow pace and seem like they are truly real life situations. I would not recommend this book to anyone who doesn't like serious books or books that don't have much happening most of the time.

Journal Entry (Author's point of view)

Chapter 13: Leaving the Beast Behind:
The waves crashed along the sides of the naval ship, constantly splashing water into Ralph’s face. Ralph stood on the deck of the boat while leaning against the side.
“What’s wrong, Ralph?” asked Percival. He was so in shock of being rescued he couldn’t speak. Percival waited for an answer, when he realized there wasn’t one he went to where Johnny and Wilfred were. A while later Ralph was still leaning as before, when Samneric spotted him.

“What’s wrong, Ralph?” Samneric asked at the same time. That was the fifth time someone asked him that. So Ralph gave up on his plan of being mute and decided to give a truthful answer.
“I feel bad about leaving Bill, Roger and Jack,” Ralph muttered.
“But they,” Sam started “chose to stay behind,” Eric finished.
“I know. But when they saw the naval officer, they were the only three to run back into the jungle, who knows what will happen to them,” Ralph sighed.
“They tried,” – “to kill you,” Samneric said confused.
“I know, but now they are on that island forever. You listened to them and told the naval officer that six had died. You counted them as well.”
“We’re sorry, Ralph,” – “That’s what they wanted,” Samneric hung their heads and walked away gloomily. Ralph looked at the island, which was the size of a small rock now, and saw there was no smoke coming from it and the flames had disappeared. He could have sworn he could hear ululating in the distance but he blocked the thought form his mind. Each day went by the same way; eat breakfast, stare at water, eat lunch, stare at water and feel increasingly guilty, eat dinner, go to bed. Ralph realized that he probably had more food in two days on the ship than he had his whole time on the island. The other boys on the ship seemed to not notice that Jack, Bill and Roger were not there or they just didn’t care.

Ralph shook his head in amazement that so many traumas had happened in so little time. He thought of Simon and Piggy’s deaths, the death of the boy with the birthmark, the beastie and, mostly, that he was nearly killed himself. The wait to arrive back in England seemed impossibly long, but finally the time came when they arrived at the docks. Samneric stayed close by Ralph as all of the children scurried off the ship’s loading platform in hopes of seeing their parents.

“They’re not here yet. We must tell them that we've arrived and then you can all go home,” The naval officer announced.
“Get back onto the ship so no one gets lost!” He was running, now, after the littluns who were disobeying. When everyone was back inside of the boat, the naval officer did a head count. He stopped in his tracks when he reached me. He stared at my face for a few long seconds when he asked Ralph a question.
“Who are your parents, boy?”
“Well, my dad’s in the navy and...,” Ralph was interrupted.
“I think I know your dad, you look a lot like him. Is his name,” He whispered a name in Ralph’s ear.Ralph’s face suddenly lit up and he nodded his head with excitement.

“You stay with me, okay? I’ll bring you home. Your father is a good friend of mine, I was going to meet him later,” he said. Ralph was shocked, he had no idea that his dad was home. All of the children's parents appeared with a huge smile as the kids ran into their arms. Ralph, Samneric and the naval officer stayed until the sun turned a bright orange. Samneric looked very sad, their parents had not come yet. The officer looked over at Samneric.
“What are your names?” He asked them.
“I'm Sam,” - “n' I'm Eric,” they said with their heads hanging.
“I must have forgotten to get your parent's number,” the officer said.
“They don't have a telephone number,” they said unanimously. The officer looked confused.
“You can just,” - “take us to the school,” they said.
“Well, what's your address? I'll take you there,” he offered.
“We live at the school,” they said. The officer looked even more confused and so did Ralph. They had never told anyone on the island this; at least that’s what Ralph thought. Ralph was the first to speak.
“What do you mean?”
“The school took us in because,” – “our parents sent us there so that they could live somewhere else.” There was a moment of silence, then the officer awkwardly left. Ralph didn’t know what to say either. Samneric decided to wait on the ship until the naval officer came back to take them home. The officer walked onto the platform out from the boat with Samneric while he was holding his keys.

“Okay, I will take Sam and Eric back to the school and Ralph, will come with me to your house,” he said as he walked over to his small black vehicle. We jumped into the car and the officer turned the keys to start the car. The air filled with black smoke coming form the exhaust, which covered the windows so that the outside was not visible. The car ride seemed strange because they were just seeing civilization and society again. They were away so long that they were unfamiliar to it all. Samneric left the car with the officer and walked to the front door where a tall man, their headmaster, opened the door and ushered them inside.
Ralph sat in the car for what seemed like hours because he was alone and being kept waiting from seeing his dad. Finally,a butler opened the door for the officer who quickly waved goodbye to Samneric and walked back to the front gate.
Ralph sat up straighter when the officer opened his door and started the car again. When they came to a cross road, the officer to speak to Ralph.

“By the way, I’m Jack,” Ralph cringed at the name but said nothing. The ride to Ralph's house was quiet.
“Lagoon Ave, here it is,” Jack announced as he rounded the corner to Ralph’s street. Ralph counted the house addresses until Jack screeched the car to a stop in front of 332. This was the nicest, richest part of the city, where every house looked the same. They stepped out of the car and walked up to the front door. Ralph reached out and knocked on the oak door. A tall, blond haired woman opened the door. At first she only saw Jack.
“Ah hello, it’s good to see you Jack.” She said with an incredibly sad tone to her voice. She stepped out onto the porch. Her eyes went wide and her mouth hung open when she saw that Ralph, her son, was standing behind Jack.
“Hullo Mum,” Ralph said. She grabbed Ralph and held him in her arms for a very long time.
“You’re back!” she yelled when she let go of him.
“Yes mum, I’m back.” She pulled them both inside and screamed as she pulled the door shut.
“Edward, you get down here!” She called up the stairs.
Loud footsteps ran down the stairs. Ralph's father walked next to his mother. He spotted Ralph and gasped.
“Ralph!” He walked briskly toward Ralph and gave him an awkward hug. His father didn’t usually show emotion. They sat for dinner and ate as Ralph told every part of his life on the island, not including his horrifying experiences. He thought about Jack, Bill and Roger but erased the thought and went back to telling his story to his loving parents.

Journal Entry (Samneric)

Chapter 11 and 12: The Last Hunt
(italic=Sam, regular=Eric)

I struggled to sleep last night because-
And I, I couldn't sleep last night either.
Yes fine Sam, we couldn't sleep last night because of the frighteningly exciting fight between a few of Jack's followers and us (the biguns of Ralph's tribe).
I, I mean we, both woke up with heavy bags under our eyes and very pale white skin from the horrible lack of sleep.
Yes, and when we woke up someone had called an assembly to speak of Piggy's stolen specs.

"We should go to Castle Rock. I will speak to Jack and I'll say that he needs to give me back my specs, not to be a good sport or show respect, just because what's right is right!" Piggy announced angrily.

"Good idea Piggy. We shall head to Castle Rock, but you must be the one to speak," Ralph agreed.

I was a bit frightened to go over to Jack's tribe and confront them about Piggy's glasses.
Well, I wasn't frightened at all. No not one bit frightened, not of Jack, not of anybody.
We stood side by side, helping each other through the tall grass and thickets to get to the Castle Rock.
When we arrived, Piggy was trembling deliriously. He was crouching with all of us, on a lower platform than the one that lead to Jack's hide out.
There were gaurds before the entrance to the cave where they lived.
We all crouched down silently when we heard Jack and a few hunters coming out of the trees, back to Castle Rock.
Yeah, and we could hear 'em chanting their chants while we watched them carry the bloody pig they hunted.

When Jack reached the top of the rock we gasped as we saw the blood dripping from his hands and his dirty face covered in clay.
Ralph pushed Piggy, urging him to speak.
Piggy was spotted by Jack and soon after Ralph and the rest of us were seen.

Jack smiled truculently at us and when Piggy took to long to speak, Ralph decided to speak for him.
"Give back Piggy's glasses, Jack," Ralph ordered.
"Why should I?" Jack responded childishly.
"Jack you stole them. Your a thief. A thief and a bloody swine!" Ralph suddenly burst out angrily and losing his temper.
Immediately, Jack charged at Ralph with his pointed spear and Ralph grabbed a spear as his own and dodged the attack.
Ralph got to his feet and the fight began.
Cheering rose up from the hunters and the littluns began ululating. Ralph tried to thrust his spear at Jack but he ducked and threw his spear at Ralph.

Ralph grunted loudly but luckily he was only hit by the butt of Jack's spear.
Meanwhile, Piggy had been shouting at Ralph and Jack about his specs when suddenly... CRASH! Piggy squealed-
Really Sam, "Piggy squealed?"
Whatever. Piggy squealed as a large boulder crushed and threw him down the mountain, leaving a trail of blood into the ocean.
There was then a short cessation of chanting and screaming and howling as all eyes turned to the floating body in the water and Roger's horrible smile.

"See, you see? That's what you get! What you deserve!" Jack roared with laughter as Ralph stared at him in complete shock.
Before Ralph could do anything, Jack looked at Roger and tilted his head toward us, Sam and I.
Roger grabbed us and tied us up with a rope he had been holding.
We were tied to a pole in the ground and beaten senseless.
The last thing I saw were Ralph's feet scurrying away into the jungle.

When we woke up it was night time and everyone had begun their feast. We were thrown against a rock and told to keep guard. Soon enough though, Ralph came and asked us what Jack was planning to do.
We told him we didn't know. All we had seen was Roger sharpening a spear at both ends, we told him.
We were given a small share of the meat and we gave a piece to Ralph out of kindness.
He seemed to desperately want us to sneak away with him but the truth was, we felt that Jack's group would be safer and if we joined Ralph then we would be killed.
We sent him away after he told us that he would be hiding in a thicket near by and to keep Jack away from there.

The next morning we were woken up by Jack who told everyone to make a cordon so we could search the island successfully for Ralph.
Someone whispered to Jack and we were both suddenly slapped on the face.

"Someone saw you two speaking to Ralph last night. I know he gave you two information, now what did he say?" Jack ordered.
We decided not to speak which was not a good idea because Jack quickly grabbed Eric by the neck and forced me to tell him by beating Eric and strangling him at the same time.
Sam told Jack of where Ralph was hiding and we all were forced to run to the thicket where we found Ralph.
Roger soon became frustrated and used Piggy's specks to set the thicket on fire.
All we saw was a spear and someone bolt out of the other side of the thicket into the forest.
Roger found him again, in a bigger stronger thicket but Ralph escaped once more. We were forced to hold lit torches and run to where ever Jack thought Ralph might be.

I soon spotted Ralph at the beach in the distance with what seemed to be a, an adult and I grabbed Sam's arm and tried to make a run for it toward rescue.

We were caught by the necks, slapped and were yelled at for attempting to escape. We watched as our dear friend Ralph and some littluns stood at an officer's side, sobbing.

Journal Entry (Piggy)

Chapter 9 & 10: The Loss of the Boy and the Glasses

Ralph and I could hear the faint noise of the party in the distance. Everyone had left for Jack's feast of pig. That bloody hunter keeps trying to get everyone to go to his tribe, but Ralph, Simon, Samneric and I would never do such a thing. But where was Simon, I hadn't seen him for hours.
"Ralph, I think that we should go to the feast, you know, to keep an eye on things," I suggested.
"I think your right, Piggy. Brilliant ideas you have. Maybe Simon is there, you know, I haven't seen him since yesterday," He seemed to be still thinking about this as we walked over to Jack's feast.

Jack sat upon a high rock that he seemed to think was his thrown. He looked down on the feast where I saw Samneric and a ton of littluns, bigguns and hunters. Jack beckoned Ralph, the bigguns who were still in our tribe and I over to his seat. We walked over, confused that he would welcome us this way and stood next to him.
"Have you eaten?" He looked down at Ralph and I and we shook our heads. He looked over to the bigguns in our (Ralph and my) tribe.

The bigguns nodded happily. By that time it had begun raining and the littluns from our tribe joined the small meeting and nodded as well.
"I have fed you, are you happy? Will you agree to join my tribe?"
Silence
"I've fed you, now will you join my tribe or won't you?" He asked again.

"I'll join," a littlun said.
"So will I," said a biggun.
Soon everyone in Ralph's tribe had spoken up and gone to Jack's tribe. All who was left in our tribe was Ralph, Samneric, Simon, some littluns and I.
Happy, Jack stood with a seeming phosphorescence emitting from him. All laid eyes upon him as he spoke.
"We must get rid of this dreaded rain storm with our game," The boys cheered in delight, knowing what this game was about.

Everyone gathered into a circle and one boy, it was to dark to see who, got in the middle of our circle. Kill the pig. Cut his throat. Spill it's blood, was chanted by all of us. Even Ralph and I tried to join in on the fun. The boy in the middle crawled around on all fours and squealed like a dying pig as he was hit over and over with the butts of spears and many bony fists. The thunder of the chanting roared on as a strange creature crawled out of the bushes. Ralph saw it and shrieked.
There were other gasps in the crowd when someone yelled "Beast, beast!!!"

We circled it and began chanting. Kill the beast. Cut it's throat. Spill his blood. Do him in! This was repeated all throughout the time we mobbed the beast and stabbed it and even the littluns were throwing tiny punches and kicks at it. Soon it became incredibly exciting and we were all on top of it, tearing it's hair with our hands, biting into flesh and ripping it off of it's body. I could hear every terrible tear of flesh and agonizing scream that went along with it from the beast. The beasts corpulent body soon went limp and rolled into the water slowly when I, and everyone else, could see what we had killed. Simon.

Later on Ralph and I stood with our hearts in our throats and horrible gut wrenching pains of guilt.

"It was murder, Piggy, murder," Ralph insisted.
"It was an accident, besides he was barmy crawling out of the bushes like that in the middle of the night when we were all excited like that. And-" Ralph cut me off in the middle of my illumination.
"It was murder all the same. Accident or not, it was murder and it was of Simon," He said nearly in tears from his guilt and the loss of his friends. I decided to leave it at that and not try to explain any further. I no longer wanted to think of it.

We later met up with Samneric and they explained to us that they had left early from the feast and were wondering if it was any fun after they left. Ralph finally understood that we needed to leave it in the past and he told them that we had no idea, for we left right after we ate.

Hours later, back at our own camp with just Ralph, Samneric and I, Ralph seemed to be losing interest in keeping the fire going. I think he just went depressed from what happened yesterday. No, nothing happened yesterday. We only ate and came back to the camp to go to sleep. We lay in our tent, Ralph, Samneric and I when we heard noises and saw three black figures outside. I began to lose my breath and could no longer breathe. I grabbed at the air, trying to bring it toward me somehow but didn't succeed. All I could do was kick and punch and grab at the ground gasping for air. I heard grunts while punches were thrown at one another in the tent but I could no longer see but a blurry outline of what was happening. After my asthma attack passed I felt my face for my glasses and they were no longer there.

Chapter 8 Journal Entry (Ralph)

Chapter 8: Two Tribes

The trumpet like sound of the conch roared in my ears as Jack blew into it. The boys of all sizes ran to were they heard the sound coming from and sat down to hear what this unexpected meeting was about. Jack beckoned for me to stand by his side and so I walked across the grass to where he stood, surrounded by the crowd of young boys.
“What are you doing Jack?” I asked, loud enough for all to hear.
“I have called a meeting!” Jack stood confidently beside me like the strong prefect he is.
I decided I should listen to what he could possibly want this time and quieted.
“Hmm, I-,” Jack paused and pointed at me with a now demoniac face. “He is a coward. All he cares for is getting off this island rather than surviving on it! He doesn’t want us to get meat and, and he called us hunters useless!” There was a gasp from the hunters.
“I didn’t!” I yelled.
“And when we went to hunt the beast he stayed behind, the coward,” The littluns were now frightened and some were crying.
“That’s a lie. I went with you too, me and Roger and you. We all went in the cave and I ran, so did both of you.”
Jack flushed. “He gives us all of these ridiculous taboos but we never get anything done. So I think that he should no longer be chief.”

I gasped. I had no idea that I had hurt him this badly that he would no longer want me to be chief. My face paled.
“I was voted chief and I will stay chief!” I said defensively.
“Then let’s have another vote. When we voted first no one knew what you would like and now they do so I say we have another vote. Raise you’re hand if you no longer want Ralph as chief.” He raised his hand high in the air and waited. Everyone’s face turned to the ground in shame. No hands went up.

I smiled hugely until seeing that Jack had slowly lowered his hand and began to cry. Tears were streaming down his face as he was walking away.
“I will make my own tribe. It will be a tribe where we will actually do things to survive on this island.” He began to run through the trees then stopped when I yelled his name.
He turned around “No!” he yelled, and left.

Hours later Piggy and I sat together with our new friendship. I whined on and on about Jack leaving and how it was my fault and Piggy kept trying to reassure me.
“I have an idea. We can take the fire from the mountain and bring it down to the beach so that we don’t have to walk as far every day to cook and get warm.”
“Bring the fire down here?” I asked, confused. “Hmm, that sounds like a good idea, Piggy.”

He tried to smile but while being demure. At night we brought the fire down to the beach and left the fire on the mountain just a pile of ashes and small flames. The new fire danced in the wind while Piggy and I sat around it on fire duty. We spoke some more of the new tribe and Jack when all of the sudden Jack and two dark figures ran onto the beach towards the fire. Jack and the figures took the fire onto their torches and left us with what we had on the mountain.

“We have caught a pig. I paunched it and it needs to be cooked,” Jack said loudly. By then most of the boys in my tribe had gathered around to see what had happened.
“You may join us if you like, for the feast I mean,” Jack announced to the whole group.
I shook my head at him and when he saw no one was going to join his lovely feast he left with his hunters behind him.
“Meat,” the littluns moaned.
“Yes, meat,” the biguns echoed.
“I know that everyone wants meat but we must survive on our own. Jack has left us and it was for the better. We can find our own meat,” I tried to say confidently.
“There is something that is worrying me more, Ralph. Where is Simon?” Piggy asked.
I looked around with the small light of the fire. “I don’t know,” I said, worriedly.

Chapter 6 & 7 Journal Entry (Jack)

Chapter Six and Seven: The Beastie Returns!
Two small dark shadows shook me awake.
“The beastie,” one said “we saw it.” finished the other identical voice.
“What?” I moaned, still half asleep.
“It had huge claws and it was moving,” the first one said. “Ralph is calling a meeting,” the other finished.
I sprung to my feet in the dark and noticed that the two shadows was Samneric. I quickly rounded up my hunters as Samneric woke the other children. I spotted Ralph waving the conch in the air and sleepy shadows dragging their feet toward him. Piggy was by Ralph's side already and so I raced over to join the meeting beside Ralph.
“What has happened?” I asked Ralph.
He turned quickly for he didn't know I was there. “Samneric saw the beastie when they were on fire duty. They say it's moving and is very scary,” Ralph said trying to hide the fact that this made him frightened as well.
“We must hunt it down! My hunters and I, we'll kill it! I exclaimed.
“We must hunt it down tomorrow when everything is bright and we can see better to hunt it down,” Ralph agreed.
My hunters were never dun when they heard there was to be a hunt soon.
“Yes, tomorrow sounds like a good decision since it is too dark to wander through the jungle much less hunt down a beast,” I said sagely.
Everyone returned to their shelters and quickly went back to sleep. Everyone but the hunters. After our first kill all we have wanted to do is slay some more pigs but killing this beastie would be our biggest hunt yet and ever. My father would have looked at me proudly but obviously frightened and said that I was being very bravado. Morning came too slowly and everyone but the littluns woke up and were immediately ready to go and kill this horrible beastie.
Ralph turned to me and asked if there was any part of the island I had not explored before.
“The rocks, I haven't spent time hunting over the rocks near those caves” I said as I pointed near the mountain area. “Just over that mountain, pretty far but we can make it today,” I tried to say bravely.
Ralph had a scared look on his face. “Good, well Piggy should stay behind to watch the littluns,”
“Always protect Piggy. Let him stay here so he doesn't get hurt,” I said enviously.
“But, but, what if the beastie comes here when you're gone trying to find it and I'm here all alone with only the littluns,” Piggy shuddered.
“Oh get over it, Fatty. Stop being so scared all of the time,” I said impatiently for the urge to kill was overwhelming me inside. The scene of the squealing pig struggling and then dying when I stabbed it repeated over and over again.
“Can we leave now? We won't have daylight forever,” I said through gritted teeth, stroking the point of my spear. Ralph agreed and Piggy was left alone with the horrible littluns to take care of. I lead the group of hunters and other biguns to the mountain where Ralph again lectured us about the importance of fire. Ralph would not give up so we left two people in charge of the fire while we were gone.
“It's getting dark. Someone should go back and tell Piggy that we won't be back before dark,” Ralph says worriedly.
“I'll go,” Simon said, already walking back up the mountain and down it again to get to the forest.
“My hunters need meat!” I exclaimed at Ralph.
He agreed to let us go hunt and so we raced into the jungle. I spotted a boar and nearly caught it when it gave me a large scratch on my arm. We chased after it but when we got back out of the jungle the boar was gone and Ralph was jumping up and down in excitement.
“I threw my spear at it and it was wounded!” Ralph yelled excitedly.
“It got away and gave me this little scratch,” I showed him the gash on my arm but he didn't seem to notice.
“I wounded it!” Ralph repeated but still nobody seemed to care. He was only trying to get more attention again. It was infuriating so I tried to make him look bad.
“Why'd you throw the spear? You could have waited and we could have caught it for sure,” I said.
“But I wounded it,” Ralph said depressingly.
We played a quick game to reenact what had happened during the hunt and everyone's spirits were up again.
We soon arrived at a cave and I decided that I would go in with Ralph to see what exactly was inside. It smelt of brine and another horrible stench.
“We should have one more person,” Ralph said.
“I'll come,” Roger whispered.
Ralph and I jumped because we didn't know he was in the cave with us.
“I guess that makes three,” I said.
Ralph fell behind and so I turned to see what he was doing. He stood motionless in the dark tunnel-like cave.
“Well aren't you coming? Or are you afraid?” I said trying to make him angry so he would keep moving.
“If you're not then why don't you go see what's out there and come back and tell us,” Ralph said foiling my plan.
“Alone?” my voice squeaked.
“Yes,” He said plainly.
I stared at him to see if he was jocking and picked up my spear and began to walk farther into the cave alone. About fifteen minutes later I came back and tell them that the rest of the cave was all clear and so we all got up, grabbed our spears and walked into the unknown. When we came out of the cave onto the other side we saw a sight unexplainable in words, all I know is that it was most definitely the beastie everyone was afraid of. We ran after we threw our spears to the floor and raced back to warn the others about the terrible discovery.

Chapter 5 Journal Entry (Simon)

Chapter 5: Ralph’s Assembly

Ralph walked away tempestuously down the mountain with his beloved conch in his hands. While the hunters roared on with their chanting the rest of us stood in silence.
“Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in!” The hunters chanting began to sound like an incantation. I sat near Piggy who at the time was glaring at Jack and trying to fix his glasses at the same time.

Piggy stood “Well, we should head down to the meeting area. Ralph might call the meeting any moment now,” he said to me and the rest of the group over the chants of the hunters. The hunters quieted when Jack stopped chanting.

“Is that what you think we should do? Always listen to Ralph,” Jack laughed jeeringly.
As Piggy pondered about what he should say in return I stood, walked to his side for a moment or two and started down the mountain. Soon I could hear the loud and clumsy footsteps of Piggy following with some of the adorably quiet footsteps of the littluns. It didn’t take a while to reach the shore and when we did we scattered. Most of the littluns walked together down the beach towards the meeting area while others went off to play in the water. The rest decided to follow Piggy off into the jungle to go pick fruit while they waited for Ralph to blow the conch.

I decided to go and follow the group of littluns headed toward where we held our meetings. The littluns tripped constantly as they took their small steps in the sand. When we reached the area where our meeting were held the littluns wept disappointedly as they watched Ralph in the distance, sitting on the log they play on. They turned and decided quickly they were no longer sad and would sit and build castles in the sand.
Ralph licked his lips and picked up the conch that was always by his side. The noise made the children act ludicrous, running and screaming until they remembered the source of the sound and calmed down.

Half way into thelong meeting the hunters winded and couldn't sit still like everyone else in the assembly. Ralph had gone over the rules that had always been there but were never inforced. I recited them in my head, number 1: no going to the toilet anywhere but the rocks where the water can wash it away. Number 2: we need to help out with jobs rather than going off in the jungle. Number 3: we need to start getting clen water from the river again and store it in the coconuts. Number 4: The fire always needs to be burning. We can never let it go out again because it is the only thing that can get us rescued.

"Another thing, the beastie is nothing to be afraid of. It is in you littluns imagination's. You were dreaming, it was all in your head," Ralph stated. This caused murmurs from the littluns who full in believe in the beastie. After a while a small boy walked foward with help from the other children and began to speak.

"Well I woke up one night and saw shadows. It was horrible and I, I know, I mean I think it was the beastie," he said unsure of himself. Oh no, I thought. He had seen me walking back from my secret place in the jungle. I conffesed this to Ralph who scolded me for going out in the night and not informing anyone. The littluns were reassured and all seemed well until Jack stood and spoke.

"Me and my hunters, we'll kill this beast. It wont have a chance against us!" He screamed.
Ralph glared at him for bringing it up again.
"Yeah, we'll cut it's throat!" Someone from the hunters yelled. The biguns cheered and the littluns weeped. Their lamentation was caused by the frightening subject of the beastie and the thought that there were no adults to save them here. Maurice cheered them up by falling over and everyone was laughing and cheering at the thought of the bestie dead except for Ralph, Piggy and I.

When everyone had left Ralph told Piggy and I about his plans to stop being leader because he could not compete with Jack as leader. Piggy and I tried and succeeded in talking him out of it. The night slowly faded away and the sun appeard. I wonder who will succeed in leading, Jack or Ralph, seemed to be on everyone's mind.

Chapter 3 & 4 Journal Entry (Piggy)

Chapter 3&4: Huts and Hunting
“Where's Jack? He better not be off hunting again,” Ralph asked himself.
Simon mumbled in agreement. Ralph and Simon sat on the mud covered ground on their knees. They wiped the sweat off of their foreheads from working so hard.
“Simon, go get more of that string,” Ralph ordered.
Simon stood, brushed the dirt off of his hands and walked off into the jungle with one of the littluns trailing behind.
“Piggy, where is Jack?” I turned as I felt a slight tugging on my sleeve.
“Not sure, probably out trying to get himself some meat,” I said. “Now go away, I'm trying to rest,” The littlun turned and dragged his feet in the sand back to his friends. When I looked back to check on the progress of Ralph and Simon's shelters Simon was back and Ralph had already tied the palm leaves to a stick in the ground like a tent.
I felt the tugging on my sleeve again. “Now see here!” I yelled. When I turned to my right I saw that Samneric were kneeling at my side in the sand.
“What is it?” I asked.
“We all,” said Sam “ we want food,” said Eric.
“If you haven't gotten any just get some fruit from the trees,” I replied.
“Well we can't reach and,” Sam said “Simon usually helps us get it.” finished Eric.
“Then go ask him for help,” I mumbled as I layed back down.. I could hear the quiet susurrations of Samneric as they walked away. I rolled back over to my left to watch Ralph and Simon again. Suddenly the hut they were building collapsed and Simon was buried under it. Simon got out from underneath the mess and had a contrite look on his face.
“Sorry,” Simon apologized. Ralph nodded his head.
Suddenly Jack jumped out of the trees from the forest. Ralph jumped and Simon gasped.
“Where were you!” Ralph said angrily.
“I was out hunting, I almost caught a pig Ralph,” Jack said, bursting with excitement.
“I have been here all day trying to make us some shelter and I only have help from Simon,” Ralph replied malevolently.
“We needed meat, and if you've been working all day on these huts it doesn't seem as if you've gotten very far,” Jack said as a matter of factly.
Their blatant argument was attracting attention form the littluns and the biguns.
“We need a place to have shelter for when the rain comes!” Ralph yelled
“Meat comes first. We need it more.”
“We already have fruit! We can wait on the meat but people will get sick if there is no place to stay when it gets stormy,” Ralph said, standing up a bit straighter as Jack flushed defeated and Simon slowly walked away, unnoticed by anyone.
They're acting like children, I thought to myself. I'd be a much better leader than either of them and they know it.
The next morning came quickly, and then evening came soon after. Ralph and I and a couple of other boys decided to go down to the pool to cool off. Of course, I just sat under a tree on account of my asthma and watched the others. Water splashed out of the pool every time someone did a cannon ball or belly flop into the water. Ralph's eyes suddenly widened and he chocked on water as he yelled. “Smoke, smoke, I see smoke!”
“Where?” Maurice asked.
“There, out in the sea, don't you see it?”
“It's a ship. Ship, ship!” Maurice added.
Everyone got out of the pool in what seemed like less than a second and were quickly getting their clothes on.
“I don't see any smoke!” I yelled to a rapt Ralph.
He was already running into the forest towards the mountain.
“I don't see smoke!” I yelled, staring at the mountain top.
Everyone had started running after Ralph and so I decided to follow. When I reached the top of the mountain I was panting and everyone was staring at the ashes left by the flames.
“They're turning around. Come back! Come back!” Ralph yelled. “Come back! Come back!” Everyone joined in so loudly that the birds flew out of the trees like the time Ralph blew the conch. When everyone could no longer scream and the ship was out of view we heard chanting and loud footsteps heading up the mountain. Jack was leading the chant and the line. Many of the littluns and hunters were behind him, covered in blood and sweat and the camouflage clay they had spread on their faces. Jack came to a stop and stood inches away from Ralph.
“We caught it! We caught a pig. Last time I didn't catch it but this time we were ready!” Jack yelled jumping up and down excitedly.
“Yes, I fell over,” Sam started “and he tackled it.” Eric finished.
“It was wonderful.” said Jack.
“You let the fire go out,” Ralph said through clenched teeth.
“We'll light it again. Oh you should have been there.”
“You said you were going to watch it but you let it go out,” Ralph repeated.
“I said I'd light it again didn't I? See,” Jack turned to me and held out his hand “Hand me your specs, fatty.”
“There was a ship! They would have seen us if there was a fire but you and your bloody hunting cost us all rescue!” I yelled, red in the face. Under his mask, the color in Jack's face had rushed out at the news of the ship. There was silence and Jacks face light up.
“What did you say, fatty?” Jack asked as his fist swung into my gut and made my fall back onto the ground. “What did you say!” It was more of a threat than a question now as the palm of his hand swiped my face and made a loud slapping noise.
Soon all of the hunters were laughing and chanting and Ralph was already walking down the mountain as he yelled “I'm declaring a meeting. I don't care if it's dark, but when I blow the conch the meeting will be starting!”

Chapter 2 Journal Entry (Simon)

Chapter 2: The Beastie

"There are pigs on this island," announced Ralph
Jack showed a matyred expression but no one noticed.
Everyone sat up straighter and listened more to what he had to say.
"There musn't be any interupting when I speak so whoever is holding the conch is the only one able to say anything," said Ralph " and he won't be interupted by anyone, you see?"
"But," one of the children asked. Ralph held up the conch to make his point and the child became quiet.
"He won't be interupted by anyone except for me!" exclaimed Ralph. "So, we know there are pigs but has anyone found anything while we were gone?"
A young boy with a big maroon colored birthmark was being pushed forward to Ralph.

"Yes, what is it? Speak up," Ralph said as he handed him the conch.
The boy stood silent as Piggy decided to kneel by him to help. The boy whispered in Piggy's ear amnd Piggy spoke.
"He says that he saw a beastie, a snake-like creature in the jungle."
"Beastie?" Ralph repeated
"Yes a beastie. It was ever so big he tells me," Piggy said.
"There's no such thing as this beastie. Only in big countries," Ralph stated.
"He says he saw it," Piggy said, shrugging.

"There is no beast I tell you!" Ralph said angrily.
"When we go hunting we'd be sure to kill it if we saw it," Jack said to the boy.
"There's no beast!" Ralph yelled.
Everyone fell silent
"Now, I would like to be rescued and I have a grand idea!" Ralph said, completely changing the subject. "How about we make ourselves a big fire on the top of the mountain so that the ships will see the smoke coming from the island," Ralph proposed
All the littleuns began capering and cheering at the wonderful idea. I wanted to tell Ralph that it wasn't a good idea because the fire may spread but I was to afraid that he would think I was being errant and silly.

Piggy asked for silence but the ebullience of the children went on as they ran for the mountain.
The fire didn't last long and Ralph was obviously disappointed. The sparks from the fire traveled with the wind into the junlgle and an unexpected fire started, spreading quickly.

Ralph continued to make recriminations that it was Piggy's fault for not helping enough. This was going to far, I didn't want to make a scene so I tried politely to help Piggy.
"He did help," Ralph's head turned swiftly to look at me "Um, he helped by letting you use his specs, yes he helped that way," I said, hoping I had induced Ralph to be nicer.
A moment of silence passed as everyone thought this over.

"Where's the littleun!" Piggy yelled breaking the silence.
"What?" Ralph asked in confusion.
"The littleun with the birthmark on his face, where is he?" Piggy asked hysterically.
"Who?" Everyone seemed to ask with Ralph.
"The one who told us of the beastie!" Puggy was panting now and everyone seemed to have one terrible thought in their head.
I turned my head toward the spreading flames in the jungle and everyone's eyes followed.

Chapter 1 Journal Entry (Jack)

Chapter 1: The Man with the Trumpet

The hambone frill on my togs was making my neck very warm since we have been walking for what seems like hours. The other boys all looked as they were about to faint if they took another step and so I did what was best for the group.
“All right we can take a short rest before looking some more,” I announced.
“What are we looking for?” one of the younger boys asked.

“We are looking for a place to set up camp so we can start thinking of how to survive on this island,” I answered, not to just him but the whole group.
“We don’t know this is an island,” Roger muttered.
Gasps came from the younger boys in the choir. How dare he talk back to me?

“What did you just say?” I asked trying to sound frightening.
“I said that we don’t know if this is an island or not, sir,” said Roger.
“Hmm; well I was thinking the same thing. What is your name?”
“Roger,” he said as the suffusion in his face quickly disappeared.
“Well then what do you think we should do, Roger,”
When he didn’t answer the pallor of his face was replaced by a bright pink.

Then suddenly a trumpet sounding noise blared throughout the jungle. The choir stood still in the sand and then realizing what this meant started cheering. This meant that we were being rescued and the grown-ups were looking for us right now.

“Single file, behind me; and calm down all of you, the adults will think we’re loons,”
“Yes, Merridew” they all answered in unison.

We arrived were the trumpet noise came from quickly but there were no adult’s, only children.
“You there, where is the man with the trumpet to get us rescued?” I asked the fat boy asking everyone’s names.
“There’s no man with a trumpet, only me. We’ve organized a meeting, care to join in?” A different boy answered. He was holding a conch shell in his lap and sitting on a rock in the middle of the group of boys. He had blonde hair the color of tow and seemed to be around my age.

“So there are no grown-ups here to rescue us?” I asked, disappointed.
“Except for the pilot who no one has seen, no there are no adults,” The fair haired boy responded.
“Well we may as well join your meeting, you may take off your togs boys,” I said to my choir.