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In the novel Lord of the Flies, why do the boys refuse to kill the pig at the end of Chapter 1?

In Chapter 1, Ralph, Jack, and Simon are exploring the island when they stumble upon a piglet that is caught in between a curtain of branches and vines. As the piglet squeals and kicks in terror, Jack takes out his knife. He raises his arm in the air but hesitates long enough for the piglet to escape. After the piglet escapes, the boys laugh as Jack tells them that he was looking for a proper place to stab the piglet. When Ralph asks Jack why he didn't slit the pig's throat, Golding writes,



"They knew very well why he hadn't; because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood" (41).



At this point in the novel, the boys are still civilized. The thought of killing a living being is unsettling, and they would be disgusted at the amount of blood there would be if Jack were to stab the pig. As the novel progresses, the boys descend into savagery, and Jack becomes filled with bloodlust.

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