What happened in the second chapter of Lord of the Flies?

Answer 1

Chapter two establishes that the boys are alone on a previously uninhabited island with no adults. The first signs of Ralph and Jack's differing objectives are revealed and the subject of the "snake-thing/beastie" is raised for the first time by a small boy with a mulberry-coloured birthmark. Ralph tells the boys that they should build a signal fire to attract passing ships and airplanes so that they can be rescued. Jack, who initially seemed only interested in hunting pigs, then leads the boys off to the mountain, already subtley challenging Ralph's leadership. At the end of chapter two the intended signal fire becomes an out of control inferno and the boy with the mulberry-coloured birthmark is never seen again. These events perhaps foreshadow the burning of the island in chapter 12 and the deaths of Simon and Piggy.

Answer 2

Chapter 5 details the meeting which Ralph called to 'put things straight.' Ralph had seen that things were beginning to slip, rules were being ignored and they had missed the opportunity of getting rescued because the fire had been allowed to go out. Ralph used the first part of the meeting to try and instill in the boys the importance of keeping the fire lit, that their very existence depended on it. He then reminded the boys to stick to the rules which they had all agreed to follow before opening the meeting to discussion about 'the beast,' Ralph hoped to settle once and for all that there was no beast. Unfortunately the meeting was held late in the day and as the sun sank it became darker. In the darkness it was not so easy to dismiss the idea that something malevolent might be lurking just out of sight. The end result was that Ralph held a vote which seemed to go overwhelmingly in favour of a belief in the existence of ghosts. The meeting disintegrated into chaos as Jack led most of the boys onto the beach to do a 'pig dance.' Ralph, Piggy and Simon were left with the realisation of just how far from normal civilised behaviour the rest of the boys had sunk. The three boys also feared how much further the other boys behaviour might inevitably decline.