Lord Of The Flies Fear

Fear is a driving force for questionable antics. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the unfortunate boys demonstrate that fear can influence how one behaves. At first, when the idea of a beast is brought up by the boy with the birthmark, the others laugh at him. Later, the boys seriously consider the reality of a beast. Finally, Ralph and Piggy discuss how to come up with a cover for their grave actions. All of these incidences are driven by fear and insanity about what is unknown. First of all, a boy with a birthmark brings up the idea of a beast. Piggy amplifies his suggestion, saying that “he wants to know what you’re going to do about the beast thing” (Golding, 34). The “beast thing” he is referring to is a creature that he saw

The night after, while Sam and Eric are out to collect firewood, Ralph and Piggy ponder explanations as to why they killed Simon. Piggy starts off by saying that “it was dark. There was thatーthat bloody dance. There was lightning and thunder and rain. We was scared!” (173). Piggy blames the elements for the killing, but Ralph says that he was not scared himself. Piggy then supposes that “[Simon] had no business crawling like that out of the dark. He was batty. He asked for it” (173). Here, Piggy is blaming Simon himself for provoking the group in a violent way. Ralph thinks that it’s best to assume that they were not there, so Piggy finally decides to tell Sam and Eric that “we was on the outside. We never done nothing, we never seen nothing” (174). In the end, Piggy and Ralph tell Sam and Eric just that, while they are still unsure about the whole situation, and whether it was really their fault. The actions in Lord of the Flies are all driven by fear and the idea to leave most details out for the sake of others. This comes in the form of idealizing the beast’s appearance and tactics, considering it to be a reality, and finally acting upon superstition. In Lord of the Flies, the boys are so scared of the beast that it directly influences their actions, causing them to take alarming measures to the point where even older readers are appalled by the concept. The book perfectly demonstrates that fear can seriously drive someone to questionable and even foolish