Supplemental Guide to Lord of the Flies/The Sound of the Shell

A group of English schoolboys are left onto a plane during a crisis to escape from attacks of Britain. However, the plane is taken down by an unknown evil (in Chapter 10, a conversation with Ralph reveals the enemies are "Reds") aircraft and the boys find themselves stranded on a deserted island with the pilot killed in the crash. Two central characters, Piggy and Ralph are introduced. They walk down to the beach, Piggy finds a shell: a conch. He gives it to Ralph, who blows in it and they call an assembly of all of the children on the island.

At the assembly, a choir group led by a boy named Jack comes along the beach. Ralph suggests they pick a leader, and he is chosen by a group vote. Jack is not happy about this, although Ralph assures him that he will still be in charge of the choir, who become the hunters. Even at this point, it is hinted that the children are governed more by their emotions since as the book itself states "what intelligence had been shown was traceable to Piggy while the most obvious leader was Jack". After Ralph is elected, he explores the island with Jack and a boy named Simon. They come across a pig entrapped in the bushes. Jack draws his knife but hesitates to kill the pig, aware of the enormity of his actions. This allows the pig to escape. Jack, ashamed of this, resolves never again to hesitate to kill.