Lord Of The Flies Analysis

Children all fear the dark because of what it may contain as darkness the manifestation of the unknown. Many people fear the unknown rather than embrace it because fearing the unknown provides them with a sense of control regardless of whether or not it is an illusion. This is shown in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, with Jack who uses the concept of the Beast to gain support from the littluns and eventually rise to power within the group of boys.

Although Jack acts fearless in front of his subordinates, he too fears the Beast. While speaking privately to Ralph and Simon about pig-hunting, Jack admits, “If you’re hunting sometimes you catch yourself feeling as if … there’s nothing in it of course. Just a feeling. But you can feel as

Jack claims, “On top, when Roger and me went on -- he stayed back.” (Golding 139). Deathly afraid of the Beast, the littluns were comforted by Jack’s bravery in encountering it and felt that it would finally be dealt with. Jack also says “He isn’t a prefect and we don’t know anything about him. He just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing.” (Golding 139), suggesting that a leader who lets the populace fulfill their innermost desires is better than a autonomous leadership that makes decisions for the populace, whether or not those decisions are for the populace’s good. The children were too afraid to mutiny against Ralph during the assembly, however Jack gained some support by appealing to the children’s fears and afterwards, they snuck off with him to hunt pigs: “‘I seen them stealing off when we was gathering wood.’ [Piggy said]. ‘They went that way. The same way as [Jack] went himself.’” (Golding 144). By insulting Ralph’s leadership in dealing with the Beast, Jack affirmed the children’s fears to create the impression of responsibility and authority, bringing himself more power. Widespread fear of the Beast could also justify exerting control, keeping the population

The blood-lust from killing a pig was the feeling of absolute power and control over an animal, which allowed the boys to unleash their innate drive towards savagery. The cheerfulness of the children while pretending to kill Robert shows that hunting was seen as a game and a source of pleasure, rather than a means of survival: “Jack’s arm came down; the heaving circle cheered and made pig-dying noises. They lay quiet, panting, listening to Robert’s frightened snivels. He wiped his face with a dirty arm, and made an effort to retrieve his status . . . ‘That was a good game’ [Jack said].” (Golding 125, 126). The existence of the Beast could justify exerting control over others, one example being the murder of Simon. In the heat of the moment, while stabbing at Simon, the children felt control, similar to the hunters brutally killing the nursing pig. No one openly expressed guilt for Simon’s murder, just as no one expressed guilt for killing an innocent pig. Jack’s tribe never spoke of Simon again; their silence suggested that they felt the murder of Simon was justified because they thought it could’ve been the Beast. Afterwards, Piggy gives excuses to legitimize their actions: “We was scared!’ said Piggy excitedly. ‘Anything might have happened.’ . . . ‘Coming in the dark -- [Simon] hadn’t no business crawling like that out of the dark. He was batty. He asked for it.’” (Golding 173). When he mentions fear, Piggy refers to the