Insecurity In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

Dalai Lama stated, “A lack of transparency results in deep distrust and a sense of insecurity”. William Golding faces this topic of insecurity in his book, Lord of the Flies, in this book a group of schoolboys, after crashing on an island, become trapped, and succumb to their insecurities so tremendously that it leads to distrust between them. His book reveals that one’s insecurities lead to changing oneself and putting on a show, as done by the antagonist, represented through the juxtaposition of treatment towards a side character and the character vs. character conflict.
In Lord of the Flies the antagonist, Jack, puts on airs and applies a new persona to himself. He is described as “ugly without silliness,” with a “crumpled” face and a “bony”

character conflict. Jack’s need to be controlling, mixed with Piggy’s fatness, need for glasses, and asthma causes them to butt heads toward the end of their story. During a speech Piggy was giving to the other boys on the island he said, “Unless we get frightened by people.” (Golding 84) followed by the laughter of the boys. Golding stated this to directly relate Piggy’s insecurities and how they affect him negatively to how people treat him; he is very likely afraid of people, hence his thought process. Later in the book, once Jack has split from the regular tribe, creating his own, (which was caused by his insecurities about his physical features) he attacks and steals Piggy’s spectacles as a supply to create his fire. Piggy was so insecure about speaking up for himself that he never truly did, until the night he died. That night, he told Ralph that he was going to go to Jack, conch in hand, and tell him that although he is “stronger than [him]… [does not have] asthma [and]… can see with both eyes” he needs to “give [him his] glasses” (Golding 171). Piggy sticks up for himself despite his insecurities and faces Jack and his insecurities, causing him to be so arrogant and deceiving. A person's insecurities cause conflict and pain, as it had between two highly self-conscious characters, Jack and