Lord of the Flies: Chapter 6 Summary & Analysis

That night, airplanes battle in the night sky, high and far enough away that none of the boys wake. A dead pilot from one of the destroyed planes drifts down on a parachute and lands on the mountain top next to the signal fire.

Samneric are on fire duty on the mountain top, but they are asleep. When they wake in the early morning before dawn, they see the dead pilot in the shadows. It sits up and falls down when the wind catches the parachute, which they think are wings. They run to the beach in terror to tell the others that the beast chased them down the mountain.

Ralph calls a meeting that quickly becomes heated. Jack questions Ralph's decisions and leadership, mocks Piggy, and claims the conch no longer matters. For an instant it seems as if Jack might take over leadership of the boys, but Ralph turns the tables and wins everyone to his side by asking if they want to be rescued or not.

Ralph and the biguns agree to search the island. Piggy stays behind to look after the littleuns. At the far tip of the island, the biguns find a rock formation Jack calls the "castle." The rock is accessible only by a piece of stone forty feet above the water below. They think it might be the beast's hideout. Ralph, as the leader, volunteers to search it. Jack follows behind him.

The boys find no beast, but Jack is excited because the rock protects a cave and would make a terrific fort. It even has boulders, which, if pushed in the right way, could roll down to crush approaching enemies.

Jack and the other biguns want to stay and play at the fort, but Ralph says they have to go search the mountain for the beast and relight the signal fire.