Fear In Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, is a classic novel about a group of schoolboys stuck on an island where fear and savagery consumes them. From the beginning of the book to the last page fear has a prominent role in the novel. Fear in the book manifests itself with many thoughts including what the littluns refer to as the beast, and the fear of not getting home. Fear leads some of the boys to make regrettable decision and it also leads Jack to a position of power. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding fear dominates the island that the boys are stranded on and this fear leads the boys to positions of power and influences some of the boys to make regrettable decisions. As the leader of his own faction, Jack uses fear to control his followers.

One example of this is when Ralph participates in the dance with Jack’s tribe. Fear made Ralph join into the circle and dance. In the quote, “They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made it governable.” (Golding 152), Ralph and Piggy only join the dance because it kept them away from the terror. This quote is basically saying that the boys were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence, which is them being in the circle, and that this restricted the terror and made it more manageable. So, the reason that Ralph joins the circle and participates in the dance is to curb his own fears and be a part of this disorganized society, because it is safe (Golding 152). In this circle Ralph helps in the murder of young Simon, and Ralph goes on to regret this. When talking to Piggy, who also participated in the dance, Ralph feels guilty for his actions. Ralph goes on to say that he was only in the outside circle and that he had didn’t have a part in the murder (Golding 157). Ralph is saying this because he regrets his actions. He is trying to prove to Piggy that he was not apart of the circle that attacked the boys and that he was just an innocent