Beast, devil, evil, corruption, the seven deadly sins, they all represent some form of evil within humankind. Lord of the Flies is the story of schoolboys that have crash landed on an unoccupied island, and go through many hardships as they fight for power and try to be saved. Throughout the story, however, they boys go from having a civilized structure to utter chaos, they struggle for their lives and grasp for survival from a darker creature on the island. Within chapter nine, Simon discovers the beast for what it really is; meanwhile Ralph and Piggy decide to join the other bigguns for a feast with Jack’s tribe. The boys play and dine, and circle together for a “dance” when Simon stumbles out of the forest to tell them of his discovery, and lands in the circle, which results in him being brutally beat to death. This attack on Simon demonstrates how the fear of the beast that the boys are experiencing is affecting their better judgment, and pushes their morals to the side, just so that they can feel safe. In chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies, William Golding employs repetition, animal imagery, and natural imagery to convey the theme that fear can corrupt humans, which pushes them to engage in unspeakable acts.
During chapter nine, one of the primary examples of a rhetorical strategy is animal imagery, which allows people to picture this sense of inner beast that fear brings out. Simon is often referred to as the beast during this chapter, showing how the boys are only