The first two paragraphs in chapter 4 of Lord of the Flies
describes how the boys' day is related to the sun, the heat and the general climate of
the island. The rhythm that Golding refers to is the rhythm of the day and how the boys
behave at various times of the day.
"They accepted the
pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air, as a time when
play was good and life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten."
Here, Golding is talking about dawn, when the sun first comes up. At this time of the
day, all is new, and the boys are not worried about what the day will
bring.
When the sun is high in the sky at noon, the heat is
too much for the boys and they will rest in the shade and take naps. Due to the
position of the sun and the resulting heat, however, the boys would see things that
weren't really there. "Piggy discounted all this learnedly as a 'mirage';...they grew
accustomed to these mysteries and ignored them..." Piggy's intellect plays a role in
keeping the boys calm as he convinces them not to believe what they
see.
Once the sun sets and "the horizon became level and
blue and clipped as the sun declined," the boys are happy that it is cooler but become
restless as they are concerned what will happen once darkness sets
in.
The boys' "northern European tradition of work, play
and food" continues, but has been adapted to fit their new
surroundings.
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