What happens in chapter 10 of boy of the Painted Cave?

Q: How does Tao manage to escape from Volt and the other hunters from his clan?

Tao leaps in front of Volts spear, knocking it out of the way and saving Ram. He tries to explain to the hunters that Ram is good, but the men say he is an evil spirit. Ram and Tao flee, barely managing to escape the hunters.

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What is a summary of Boy of the Painted Cave?
How does Tao manage to escape from Volt and the other hunters from his clan?
What is the theme of Boy of the Painted Cave?

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Chapter 10

The Shell and the Glasses

Piggy and Ralph try to keep the fire going and talk about what happened.
(We're thinking they must have realized it was Simon sometime in between "Kill that thing!" and waking up the next morning.)
Ralph shouts that it was murder and Piggy shrieks that it was not, it was just an accident.
Samneric show up, and all four of them try to convince each other that they didn't really participate like the others had.
The four of them continue to rationalize until they've decided that they never even attended the dance, that they had left early before anything bad happened.
Denial: not just a river in Egypt.
Now we're with Roger, who is climbing up Castle Rock. Someone calls for him to halt, and Roger isn't surprised as he thinks of people hiding from "the horrors" of the previous night.
It's Robert; he and Roger talk about how Jack is a real chief.
They look at a log that's been jammed under a huge rock. When Robert leans on the protruding end of the log, the rock groans. Roger thinks this is super-nifty.
They then discuss the fact that Jack has tied up Wilfred (a character we haven't seen until now) and is going to beat him up for some reason.
When they get back to the cave, Jack is sitting, naked from the waist up with his face painted in white and red. Wilfred, untied but "newly beaten," is crying.
Jack—excuse us, "the chief"—announces that they'll hunt again tomorrow.
He explains away the whole last-night's-murder thing by saying that the beast came disguised, and may come again.
Oh, and they're still going to have to steal fire to roast the meat.
Back at the shelter on the beach, Piggy yammers on about building a radio.
Sam and Eric wonder if they'll be captured by "The Reds," but think that would be better than you-know-who.
Ralph gets a little nutty. He can't remember why he wants to make a fire, he gives up on it for the night, and then he's dancing around as he thinks of a bus station and how wonderful it would be to go home.
He is interrupted by shouts as Sam and Eric start fighting with each other.
They've never acted like this before, and Piggy whispers desperately to Ralph that they've got to get out of this somehow before they go "barmy," or "bomb happy," as he puts it.
Ralph pushes the "damp tendrils of hair out of his eyes" (there's that hair again) and suggests sarcastically to Piggy that he write a letter to his auntie to come rescue them.
Well, sure, says Piggy—but he has no envelope and no stamp.
Nighttime. There's definitely something moving outside—it must be the beast.
(Um, that didn't work out so well last time, guys. Just sayin'.)
Ralph and Piggy cling desperately to each other inside the shelter. Ralph, in a not-so-noble moment, prays that the beast will prefer littluns to him.
Tension builds until something crashes into their shelter and pounces on them, beating them viciously. The shelter collapses.
After the attackers leave, Samneric come in to see if they are all right.
They aren't.

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Analyzing literature can be hard — we make it easy! This in-depth study guide offers summaries & analyses for all 18 chapters of Boy of the Painted Cave by Justin Denzel. Get more out of your reading experience and build confidence with study guides proven to: raise students’ grades, save teachers time, and spark dynamic book discussions. SuperSummary Study Guides are written by experienced educators and literary scholars with advanced degrees in relevant fields. Here's what's inside:

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What is a summary of Boy of the Painted Cave?

Boy of the Painted Cave is a 1996 middle-grade Historical Fiction novel by Justin Denzel set 18,000 years ago in prehistoric France. The novel is told in limited third person point of view and follows Tao, a 14-year-old boy with a disability, who longs to be a cave painter for his clan.

How does Tao manage to escape from Volt and the other hunters from his clan?

Tao leaps in front of Volt's spear, knocking it out of the way and saving Ram. He tries to explain to the hunters that Ram is good, but the men say he is an evil spirit. Ram and Tao flee, barely managing to escape the hunters.

What is the theme of Boy of the Painted Cave?

Following Your Own Path. One of the most important themes in this novel is that of following your own path and pursuing your dreams. At 14 years of age, Tao is on the cusp of manhood and is realizing he will likely never be able to achieve his dreams within the hierarchy of his clan.