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Fear In Lord Of The Flies Essay

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While fear is a natural instinct that humans have for survival, it is a destructive weapon that can be used by evil and good leaders and individuals. People can be coerced into committing violent crimes out of fear of consequences by their leader, or out of fear over the value a person can possess. Williams Golding's allegory Lord of the Flies takes place on a remote island, where crash landed English school children are left to fend for themselves. Many characters promote peace and cooperation like Simon. Simon represents the good within people as he never has confrontations with others and is willing to help others. Simon is killed by the savages after they mistake an injured, heat-stroked Simon as the Beast. Simon's death allows evil and …show more content…

The Beast is physically manifested as many different things on the island. The Beast is originally Simon “Well, don’t do it again. Understand? Not at night. There’s enough silly talk about Beasts, without the littluns seeing you gliding about like a—”(Golding 122), then the Parachutist, then the Lord of the Flies, and finally the Beast is Simon again. Each of these characters are misunderstood by the boys, and create a sense of unknowing which eventually turns into fear. These physical manifestations become increasingly misunderstood by the boys, as they slowly lose their grip on reality. Simon is the original manifestation, and the fear is quelled by Ralph who discovers that a little-un really saw Simon coming back from the forest after “taking short”. The Parachutist however, tricks the boys into believing the Beast is real, and leaves the island in a panic. The third manifestation of the Beast is the Lord of the Flies “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!” said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter. “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 what they are?”(Golding …show more content…

Jack uses the fear of the other boys and the Beast to eliminate threats to his rule. When Piggy and Ralph try to get Piggy’s specs back after Jack's group stole them, Piggy is killed by Roger, who believes Jack is a good leader. Eventually Jack’s chaotic rule leads to the jungle being set on fire to try to smoke Ralph out of his hiding place. By complete luck, the smoke is noticed by a ship and the boys are presumably saved, however Jack’s leadership destroyed the island and led to murders of Simon and Piggy. Jack's leadership represents dictatorships and poor leadership leading to chaos. Ralph based his leadership on a singular cause, trying to escape the island. Jack based his leadership on fear over the consequences of disobeying him, the Beast, and Ralph's group. Many world leaders today lead their countries based on fear and they often end up leading to death and destruction. I think the ending of the book and Jack's leadership is also a representation of the reality of the story itself. The island is set on fire, similarly to the world that is beyond the island in the Lord of the Flies. We learn that an atomic war of some kind is happening, which is represented by Jack's group setting the island on fire. In the real world nuclear threat is constantly a possibility which leads to leadership styles similar to Jacks, which is based in fear. The same

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Fear dictates many people's lives. This is especially true in the novel Lord of the Flies. It demonstrates that fear is the root cause of every conflict. In this story, fear was the cause of three major conflicts: the existence of the beast, separation of the group and survival.

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As a consequence of the hunting group’s fear of the literal beast, Simon dies.

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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?

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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

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With Jack having the majority of the boys, there was only Simon, Piggy, some littluns and Ralph left, who decided to stay instead of going off with Jack. . Ralph wanted to resolve things in order to survive, but Jack's eagerness to be leader was already too much for them to be able to resolve things that easily. Towards the end of the book, Ralph wanted to go talk things out, but when he did, it resulted in Piggy’s death and Ralph having to hide away from the group. As Jack and the other boys were looking for him, Jack found that setting the island on fire would be his best option, not caring if Ralph dies because he wants to be superior to everyone, and Jacks hatred towards Ralph made him even more eager to get rid of

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How can fear lead to savagery and violence? In Golding's novel Lord of the Flies it talks about how the boys get stranded on an island which ultimately leads to fear and violence between them. Jack is a perfect example because he loved having power over the boys, he would threaten and scare the boys. This causes fear and reckless behavior. The paint on the boys' faces symbolizes how they’ve transformed from civilized individuals to savages.

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Meanwhile piggy dose not belive there is a beast, jack continues to shove the fear of the beast down everyones throats and manipulating the boys so he can gain more power and control over the

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