Describe the assembly place from the fifth chapter of Lord of the Flies.

The assembly place is described in detail near the beginning of the chapter. It's the same place the boys have been assembling since the beginning of the story, but Golding may have held off on describing it until this point because its description serves to further illustrate some of the symbols and themes of the story, particular as Ralph starts to despair at the lack of civil and mindful behavior among the others.

The assembly...

The assembly place is described in detail near the beginning of the chapter. It's the same place the boys have been assembling since the beginning of the story, but Golding may have held off on describing it until this point because its description serves to further illustrate some of the symbols and themes of the story, particular as Ralph starts to despair at the lack of civil and mindful behavior among the others.

The assembly is near the palm terrace where Ralph first called to the others with the conch. It is surrounded by palm trees and is shaped like a triangle, with logs for seats. One log, the largest, and far larger than any other on the terrace, is Ralph's seat. This log lies parallel to the beach, so that Ralph sits at the "base" of the triangle, with the ocean behind him and the other boys, and the island, in front of him. The other two sides of the triangle are also formed by logs; one large one on Ralph's right, and four smaller ones on his left, the last of which is wobbly and often causes the boys sitting on it to fall off; this started off being funny, but Ralph is getting tired of it, and is disheartened that neither he nor anyone else has thought to stabilize it with a rock. 

There is tall grass growing in the middle of the triangle, but it is stamped down in the places closest to where people sit on the logs. 

My thoughts on the point of the description are as follows;

• Ralph's position is intended to show how he is figuratively alone, with an unknown behind him (the ocean) and another in front of him (the island, and increasingly, the boys) and he is intended to protect the boys from both, but he can also be seen as the one in peril. Ralph is also trying to intimidate the others by sitting so that he can't be seen as easily.


• The wobbly log and the tall grass in the middle of the assembly represent how the boys have left things go half-finished; everything they do is a bare minimum effort and they are nowhere near as insulated from the wilderness as they might imagine.