Fear In Lord Of The Flies Essay

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

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

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