Hoover Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

When Franklin D Roosevelt was in the presidential race with Herbert Hoover, he said something that has had an impact American citizens since 1932, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Although some people believe he was a loiter and had some pretty bad policies as president, he had something going with this quote. While most presidents typically produce quotes that make you want to fear yourself into voting for them, FDR decided to lift the fear factor altogether. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the boys allow fear to consume them and take over their sense of judgement, much like FDR warned Americans of nearly 100 years ago.

Fear can cause your mind to react in ways you have no control over. As the boys on the island

For example, in WebMD’s page on social anxiety, it states that, “[those who have] social anxiety disorder suffer from distorted thinking, including false beliefs about social situations and the negative opinions of others,”. But more than just anxiety’s victims suffer from false thinking when fears take hold. In fact, most characters in Lord of the Flies had this happen to them due to the complete savagery that happened on the island, the text shows this when “[the hunters’ thoughts were] crowded with memories...of the knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink,” (Golding, 63). Some may argue that they were simply hunting to survive and in that text they were just having fun while hunting. But it is pretty obvious that the boys genuinely enjoyed the bloodlust killing of the first pig. Without constantly being terrified of “the beast” and scaring themselves into savagery, they never would have enjoyed the heinous act. At one point in the novel, Jack’s subconscious mind realised that “...the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.”, but because his fear and hatred was so strong, he didn’t allow himself to fully process it. This happened to many of the other

Even the island boys didn’t act in such a manner up until they were on that island, which was definitely not a stable environment. According to a study done by The Gale Group Inc., underdeveloped and developing countries can be up to 20 percent more likely to commit a crime simply because of the lack of technology and resources compared to those of a developed country. In LOTF, the brutal overkill of the pigs and violence from each other almost always stemmed from the lack of resources and the state of environment that they were living in. Not only did violence occur because of this, but also everyday fights and disagreements much like the one occurred between the older boys until Piggy had enough of the fighting and asked, “Which is better -to be pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?” (Golding, 164) Piggy is clearly making an attempt to keep in a comfortable and familiar environment in order to make the boys stay sane. The last part of the book is totally contrasted from the beginning, in which Ralph told the group, “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are best at everything.” (Golding, 40). This quote definitely foreshadows in the fact that later in the story, the boys turn against Ralph, and his rules, and ultimately, turn