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What Does The Beast Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

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Ashton Bendavid Mrs. Wachell English 9 13 February 2023 LOTF Symbolism Since its independence from France in 1960, the Central African Republic has been known as a “failed state” as a consequence of its high poverty rates, rebellions/civil wars, and the underlying fact that they are unable to create a stable and effective government. This has led to the rapid spread of violence and crime, further weakening the state and proving how in the absence of authority rationality is lost and evil thrives. This is analogous to the events portrayed in William Golding’s classic allegorical novel, Lord of the Flies. The protagonist of the story, Ralph, is a twelve-year-old British boy who is stranded on an island with numerous other young boys during the …show more content…

At the start of the story, the beast is introduced and represents a manifestation of the boy's fear of the unknown. Most boys know that it isn’t real and Jack explains to the ones that do, “ Well then—I’ve been all over this island. By myself. If there were a beast I’d have seen it. Be frightened because you’re like that—but there is no beast in the forest” ( Golding 83). This quote shows Jack reassuring the boys that there is no beast and that they’re being consumed by the fear of something that doesn't even exist. This is an example of the boys' society being civilized at the start of the story by Jack having the common rationality to explain this to the others. Although Jack thinks this now, as he and many others descend into savagery their fear of the beast converts into the belief in its existence, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!’ The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed. The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face” ( Golding 152). This gruesome event is when the beast gains physical presence in the boys through their immoral actions. The beast turns into a symbol of fear and irrational thoughts that completely takes control of the boys, speeding their transformation into savages all as a consequence of the desertion of their morals. Concluding, the beast’s conversion expresses how fear removes morals and sprouts irrational beliefs in their place, capable of leading to the crash of

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Left alone on an island without parents, the children on the island had no one to rid them of their fears. The horrid upon horrid dreams eventually lead the children to make an imaginary “Beast”. Without no outlet for their fears, the children made their own. Therefore the

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Savagery, uncivilized, and hypocritical children have clouded their judgment when trying to figure out if there is a real beastie. A monstrous figure frightens the juvenile boys that landed on this forsaken island. In the Lord of the Flies, these English boys are all alone to defend for themselves, thats when it all unravels. This mythical monster sooner called the “beast” is symbolized a fear of a mistaken beast, as the darkness of war, and the evilness of humanity waiting to be unleashed.

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Inturn, the boys form the figure of the beast. As mentioned in “Now He Says it Was a Beastie” (Doc. B), a six-year old boy with a mulberry-colored birthmark, one of the stranded

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Initially, the beast manifests into the form of fear. In the document, “The terrors of the unknown”, it states that, “They externalize these fears into the figure of a ‘beast’.” (Doc.A). This shows that the young children stranded on the island let their imaginations rule their lives, manifesting the beast in their fear. With no mothers to comfort them, these boys have become to reliable on their imaginations, which have, in return, caused them to believe that the beast is what they fear.

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Jack makes the boys believe that the beast will not hurt them as long as they do what he says, this gives Jack more control over the boys. When Jack and his hunters go hunting, they find a sow and kill it. When they

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Obviously, the boys' fear of the ‘beast’ and their ironic need to destroy it shows that the tight grip which society's rules once had on them has been loosened in the duration of the time they have spent on the

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Imagine your plane flying over the ocean when all of a sudden BOOM you here your plane get shot down. You later realize that your stranded on an island, but you 're not alone. Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a book about kids that fled from England due to World War 2. While they were fleeing on an airplane they are shot down, leaving them on an island. With no parents and ages ranging from three to fifteen years of age you can just imagine what it was like.

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The thing is-fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream. There aren’t any beasts to be afraid of on this island '” (Golding 116). Mr. Merridew stated this during another assembly that Ralph called. During the same assembly a “beastie” was mentioned.

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The “beast” not only has a physical form of a human, it also represents the savagery of human nature that is displayed through the boys. Throughout the novel, the boys slowly lose their sense and morph into horrendous and violent monsters. The most prominent example of this savagery is during Simon’s murder. A very “beast”-like and aggressive vocabulary is used during this scene to describe the boys attack on Simon, including, “leapt… screamed, struck, bit, tore… and the tearing of teeth and claws,” (Doc F). While these words are expected to be used to describe a monster, they describe the boys instead.

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The beast is first introduced to the boys early on in their time on the island when the crash acts as a scar to the boys and there is still a state of innocence in everyone. Piggy illustrates the boy with the mulberry-colored birthmark fears to the others (as he is too shy to speak on his own) his discovery of something else existing on the island to the entire assembly, “Tell us about the snake-thing... Now he says it was a beastie... Beastie?... A snake-thing.

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In this instance Jack tells the boys that he somehow has control over the beast. This shows how Jack uses the beast to draw the children towards him as the leader of the group. He always desires to rule over the boys and the beast is his scapegoat to do

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As Jack becomes more restless on the island, it is evident that savagery becomes satisfying for him. Almost like he needs to kill to breathe, like this was the missing piece of his life that he can now satisfyingly appeal to. “His mind was covered with memories…knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.” (Golding, 74). Jack denies the ideas of the beast similarly to Piggy.

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However the beast truly is only within them, Golding uses the beast to symbolise and show the reader the evil within everyone including a pack of young boys, the concept the boys have of the beast begins to break down the order on the island.

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Beauty, Betrayal, Blood. The human mind is altered at the introduction of fear. Distress consumes the mind with the need for more control and desire to hunt. How could an island with such beauty and life become overtaken with death and despair. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the symbol of the beast to illustrate that man initially responds to fear with denial and violence.

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The collective fear of the unknown leads to the untimely and accidental death of Simon. The distress present in the boys causes their impulsive action, of Simon’s horrific murder. Fear of “the beast” an imaginary creature causes the boys to act irrational, and provokes survival instincts as a result of life threatening terror. The fear of the boys in this moment is epitomized when they chant, “Kill the beast!, Cut his throat, Spill his blood!” (168).

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