ipl-logo

Fear In Lord Of The Flies

770 Words4 Pages

An emotion experienced by every human being is fear. Angst changes a person’s behavior, mind state, and actions. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the boys are guided by fear. They do not unite together to overcome fearful situations and let their own worst impulses dominate.
To begin with, Simon speculates that the beast is only the boys themselves. There is an lucid idea of evil being on the island, however, it is only their fear suffusing. Simon states, “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they are?” (Salinger 143). In other words, Simon believes that the invidious beast is inside them. Simon has to tell everyone what he knows. Simon was on his own and was facing the fear of the beast all by himself. The others did not help him, he goes alone. The Lord of the Flies identified …show more content…

He was frightened when he was cornered in the thicket with all the other boys around him. He was scared that they were going to try and hunt him. Ralph did not know what was going to happen to him. Ralph takes action, “In panic Ralph thrust his own spear through the crack and struck with all his might” (Golding 184). Ralph was thinking that he could fend them off and they would back off. However, this drove the other boys to believe Ralph was vicious. Normally Ralph would not have fought back, he would have used words to reason it out. However, since he was scared he fought back. Also, he attacked another boy when he was escaping from the bushes. After he hurt the second boy he fled as fast as he could. The fear of being attacked took his brain over, he started attacking his own. Thus, fear guides humans because Ralph had an adrenaline rush when he was frightened, leading him to hurt his own

Show More
Related
497 Words | 2 Pages

Ralph was mad at himself and the others for what they had done to Simon (Golding 155). All of the boys killed Simon and they all should be charged with manslaughter because it was accidental because of the trance-like state the boys were in.

Read More
2775 Words | 12 Pages

The boys were afraid to say no to Ralph. First, Ralph had authority; it was hard for the boys to go against him. Ralph was like a parent to the boys. It is really hard for a kid to say no to their parents. Second, Ralph ensured the boys that he would keep them safe.

Read More
736 Words | 3 Pages

Fear has the ability to manipulate people into believing there is danger when there is not, causing them to make rash decisions. These decisions can result in a disobedience to one’s cultural beliefs, as seen in Lord of the Flies and Beowulf. Even though the characters from Lord of the Flies and Beowulf come from cultures built around nobility and loyalty, fear tears them apart from the society they had worked hard to achieve. Although the boys from Lord of the Flies tried to keep their culture’s morals, the fear of the unknown caused the children to betray their Culture.

Read More
1088 Words | 5 Pages

Upon arriving, Ralph’s primary ambition is to get off the island safely, considering the expected immaturity in reaction to the boys’ sudden loss of authority. He manages to maintain this intention regardless of his job or worth in society among the boys. As evil challenges his capability to retain this quality by the irony of the fire, breaking of the conch, and overall destruction of civilization, demonstrates his level of mental strength considering all of the odds against his favor. Having the, “voice of someone who [knows their] own mind,” and instituting an independent attitude towards his goal, Ralph displays competence and trust in his capabilities rather than depending on that of others. As displayed in his immediate need for order, Ralph establishes a plan to get off of the island.

Read More
585 Words | 3 Pages

This shows that the boys are only afraid of themselves, because they are their own worst enemy. He is the first to figure out that the beast is not an actual beast, and how it is only the boys becoming savage, and starting to be afraid of one another. As Simon began to explain this to the doubtful boys, he was the only one who died knowing the

Read More
1139 Words | 5 Pages

Fear, like hate, is a strong four letter word. It causes dehumanization and hatred which leads to the fall of civilization and the rise of savagery. Fear emerges abundantly in the Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Golding’s interpretation of fear gives a new path to explore onto, not only does he investigates modern society he also questions our inner beast. Fear causes dehumanization and hatred which leads to the fall of civilization and the rise of savagery, because fear guides our actions, thoughts and beliefs.

Read More
377 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout the course of the novel, fear is acknowledged as a crucial factor towards the downfall of morality among the boys; it is encountered from the start and continues to encircle every boy on the island. For instance, fear is incorporated through the boys’ eyes as a “beast” that appears over the course of the story. “To Ralph, seated, this seemed the breaking up of sanity. Fear, beasts, no general agreement... the argument sheered off, bringing up fresh, unpleasant matter” (Golding 88).

Read More
1702 Words | 7 Pages

Guilt takes over Ralph’s body and he is beginning to think that maybe the boys are taking this dispute slightly too far in line with the quote, “I’m frightened. Of us” (Golding 200). Ralph is foreshadowing that something monstrous is about to happen on the island, and that maybe the boys need to reevaluate the problem and fix this before the dilemma gets out of hand. Unfortunately, that is not the case. At the end of the story, the reader can indicate that Ralph has lost his innocence by the quote, “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of true, wise friend called Piggy” (Golding 261).

Read More
733 Words | 3 Pages

The Power Of Fear in “Lord of the Flies”: No Greater Illusion Than Fear Fear is intangible yet has perceptible effects. It plays a significant role in human behaviour. Each individual reacts to fear differently, some overcome it, while others give in to it. In William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” the theme of fear is discussed and it becomes clear that fear has the power to take over not only one’s mind but also control one’s actions.

Read More
910 Words | 4 Pages

Despite not actually knowing the identity of the beast, it is destroying the inside of the group and must figure out the truth. Ralph is growing mature as time goes on as now he believes he has to conquer a beast that is the center of terror. This shows Ralph’s change because of how determined he is to climb the mountain and face whatever he comes up against because he must defeat the beast before thinking about

Read More
205 Words | 1 Pages

Ralph solely partakes in the adventure, because the other boys assertively pressure him into it. Using his spear, Ralph strikes the creatures eye. Attacking the boar

Read More
1066 Words | 5 Pages

If an order was not set, Ralph felt that things would get out of control and become unorderly. As the days went on the boys and Ralph started to realize some things were falling apart even with the set rules. He noticed many of the boys screaming in their sleep from nightmares. These conflicts made Ralph mindful of the well being of the boys and his duty to keep them safe. Many of the boys started to forget about the fun and became scared.

Read More
450 Words | 2 Pages

Ralph has always had a sense of self control. He begins to show savagery in chapter 8, when the bigguns join Jack’s new tribe. However, he shows savagery much more after the murder of Simon. The text says,”...leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit,tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.”.

Read More
1127 Words | 5 Pages

During Simon’s encounter with the Lord of the Flies, Golding reveals the central issue concerning human nature. Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon that the beast is inside each boy and cannot be killed. The boys go from behaving like civilized young men to brutal savages. “What I mean is…maybe it’s only us.”

Read More
718 Words | 3 Pages

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel that’s shaped by its representation of childhood and adolescence. Golding portrays childhood as a time marked by tribulation and terror. The young boys in the novel are at first unsure of how to behave with no adult present. As the novel progresses the boys struggle between acting civilized and acting barbaric. Some boys in the novel symbolize different aspects of civilization.

Read More

More about Fear In Lord Of The Flies

Related Topics

Open Document