The Crucible And Lord Of The Flies Analysis

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Humans are born to be afraid. A feeling of fear is only natural for humans to feel; it is a part of who we are. However, it can be more than just a feeling. Fear can be a weakness in humans even though it is only our natural instinct for survival. Sometimes, fear is so powerful that it can blur our rationality and dominate how we think and what we do. What are the different manifestations of fear that are portrayed in The Crucible and in Lord of the Flies? In Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding and in The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, both of the authors constantly illustrate “fear.” The authors portray how humans tend to do all kinds of appalling things, how the selfish nature of humans uncovers, and how someone’s fear can …show more content…

First of all, in both The Crucible and in Lord of the Flies fear of the unknown seem to be the main motive behind all those cruel actions. In Lord of the Flies the boys ended up killing Simon because they were feared of the beast. With the idea of something they cannot certainly see, the boys went too far. In The Crucible too, lots and lots of innocent people’s lives were taken because the townspeople feared the devil who they do not know for certain who he is or where he is. Moreover, both authors portray how being afraid of losing reputation also cause people to act in selfish ways. In The Crucible Abigail only tried to save her reputation by telling all the lies and accusing others. In Lord of the Flies since Jack was afraid of losing his reputation as an authoritarian, he did not mind hurting others. However, in The Crucible, the society seems to also be the reason causing fear, whereas, fear in The Lord of the Flies is mainly caused by a dictator. The reason why Abigail is so afraid of people finding out about her affair with John is because of the pressure from the society around her. She grew up in a society where people are very religious and strict. Achieving a good reputation is very important in her society. So Abigail did whatever she could no matter how cruel it was so that she could save her reputation. On the other hand, in The Lord of the Flies, since the boys are afraid of Jack, who is a very savage leader, they did all the inhumane things like viciously killing pigs. The boys were scared of Jack, who had the absolute authority over