The Negative Effects Of Fear

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown,” (Lovecraft). Fear is a universal emotion that all humans, children and adults alike, feel throughout all of their lives. It could start from being scared of the dark or of the monster under the bed, to evolving to the fear of being left alone or the fear of not knowing what to even be scared of. No matter what the fear is of, it is a strong emotion that can affect the way everyone thinks and acts. The idea of fear having negative effects on humans is a recurring idea in the young adult novel, the Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Lord of the Flies takes place in the early 50s during a nuclear war, in which a group of

Throughout the earlier chapters, the group of boys were becoming less and less civilized. They began resembling savages, feeling exhilaration and adrenaline from ending the life of an animal. At the same time, fear had begun to poison their minds, one by one and would begin to consume them, distorting their better judgement and sanity. In the previous chapter, the group of boys had begun to split between the boys who would choose Jack, a primitive life, or with Ralph, a civilized society. Unfortunately, most of the boys went to Jack which forced Ralph to go visit their camp to make them see reason. At the same time that this was going on, Simon, a gentle, kind boy, had been rushing back to camp, to tell the rest of the boys of his revelation, that the “beast” that they had been scared of, was really inside of them. However, covered in the blood, sweat, and the darkness of the night, when Simon entered the camp, the boys had began to see Simon not as himself, but as the monster. Consequently, they killed him with their bare hands and teeth, as if they were predators ripping into prey. The text states, “The beast struggled forward….at once the crowd surged after it… leapt onto the beast, screamed, struct, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws,” (Golding 153). The boys viciously murdered Simon, without even thinking or discussing the matter, since they had all believed that the dark figure emerging from the forest, was a “beast” and not one of their own. Up until this point, fear had been corrupting the boys’ minds, affect their actions negatively, and cause chaos within the boys as it could not be contained. There were no adults on the island who could comfort the boys, or keep them safe. There weren’t any proper laws enforced on the island or any order or communication, which allowed fear to easily topple down