Lord of the Flies/Painted Faces and Long Hair

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Chapter 4: Painted Faces and Long Hair

Roger has become a sadist. Three of the littluns are playing with sand castles when Roger and Maurice purposefully destroy them. Maurice kicks sand in Percival's eye and makes him cry. Afterwards, when Henry (one of the littluns) is alone, Roger throws stones at him, but purposely misses. His thin veneer of civility prevents him from harming—yet. Jack then invites Roger to join him to hunt and Jack first paints his face to camouflage himself (this will become a distinctive mark of the savages). Notably among the hunters are Sam and Eric who were supposed to man the fire.

The scene changes and Ralph shouts as he sees a ship but no smoke from the signal fire they had supposed to have lit. When Jack and his hunters return, he angrily confronts them because they were responsible for keeping the fire lit. Instead, they went hunting instead and missed a chance of rescue. Piggy highlights this point but Jack punches him instead, breaking one side of his glasses in the process. Ralph intervenes to prevent further violence and it is from this point that Ralph and Jack's initial bond due to their sense of camaraderie is clearly broken. As the sun sets, they light a fire and the pig is roasted to try to ease the tension. Everyone is angry but they still eat the pork, dance and enjoy their meal, except Ralph. Ralph is angry at what he feels is the chaotic state the island society has degenerated too. Ralph decide to call an assembly to sort out matters. This whole scene is important as it is the first time Ralph's command has been disobeyed and the first time violence has been used (Jack hitting Piggy).