How Does Golding Present Fear In Lord Of The Flies

In the book ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding, a group of young British school boys find themselves stranded on a deserted tropical island from a plane crash during a time of war without anyone from the adult world to supervise them. Goldings’ message throughout the novel is that fear is a trigger for violence and destruction of society. Golding uses literary devices such as diction and foreshadowing the boys’ fear of a mythical beast, the fear of losing order and authority through a conch shell, and the savagery amongst their society leading to the death of multiple major characters. Golding suggests that fear is present in all humans and portrays the overall effect that fear can have on society. Hobbes states that without government

In chapter nine Simon is brutally killed as if he were the beast. Goldings diction makes this scene a nightmare and it shows the unorderly and feared society that the boys live in. “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bite, tore. There were no words and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.”(139) This quote shows the savagery that is released from the boys shows that what they did was no accident and ties Rousseau into Lord of the Flies. Rousseau argued that society is made up of corrupt man. Cardinal fear has lead to corrupting the boys and destroying their bond. the beast is a foundation for fear that has lead to violence. The boys originally feared the beast, but more importantly they should fear each

The conch shell was more than a symbol as it was Piggys item of hope. When it was destroyed Piggy and Ralph knew that all rules and order was lost creating fear of a violent death. In chapter 11, the conch shell is crushed by a boulder which allows Ralphs society to fall apart more. “I tell you, I got the conch! Surprisingly, there was silence now; the tribe were curious to hear what amusing thing he might have to say.”(164) The conch shell symbolize the power of speech and with that loss of speech all human intellect was lost from the island. The conch shell held in Piggy's fear so when it was destroyed so was Piggy's ability to share his knowledge. Without Piggy's ideas their society was broken. The order, authority, and intellect was all lost which created even more fear in everyone. Hobbes explains that terror would come to a society that has no government, order, and law. In this chapter it is obvious that Hobbes’ reasoning proves true because there is fear within their society once the conch is