The ending
of 's is dramatic and emotional. The growing suspense of the chapters
leading up to this point lead the reader to wonder ifwill survive the primitive rage of the
other boys; after all, the deaths ofandat the hands of the youngsters do not bode well for
Ralph.
At the end of the novel, the forest is on fire, an apt symbol for the
destructiveness of the boys and their inability to hold on to their civilized, rational selves.
The fire is intended to smoke Ralph out from his hiding place in the safety of the forest, and
thanks to Sam and Eric, Ralph knows that onceand his followers find him, he will be
killed.
Ralph runs for his life through the forest, armed with the stake that
held the pig's head as a weapon, and when he finds himself on the beach, he falls to the ground.
Ralph feels death is imminent, but when he looks up, he sees a grown-up. A naval captain, whose
ship noticed the smoke from the fire Jack set, is standing on the beach. Ralph weeps, in relief
for his safety and in sorrow for the many losses he and the others have sustained.
The ending of the novel is deeply ironic. Ralph's idea to keep a fire going to attract
the attention of potential rescuers never works, but Jack's fire, one meant to cause harm, does
bring safety. The naval captain, a symbol of the violent war against which the novel takes
place, ironically comments on the lack of control he observes in the boys.
Finally, though rescue should be cause for celebration, the boys are too stunned by the
presence of an adult, a reminder of their old lives, to feel anything but confusion, signaling
that most of them have descended too far into their primitive selves to understand what rescue
actually means.
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