Naval Officer

• Arriving moments before Ralph's seemingly impending death, the Royal Navy officer is surprised and disappointed to learn that the boys' society has collapsed into chaos.
• He states that he would have expected "a better show“ from British children (p.224).
• The sudden looming appearance of an adult authority figure instantly reduces the savagery of the hunt to a brutal children's game.  
• In the last sentence, the officer, embarrassed by the distress of the children, turns to look at the cruiser from which his party has landed—a symbol of his own adult war.