The Beast Within Us When we hear the word “beast,” most of us will immediately think of some enormous hairy creature with razor sharp fangs and massive claws coming to kill and eat us. Although these types of beasts do exist, the boys in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, show that a different, much more sinister beast is present in all of our everyday lives, and, like the boys in the book, most of us don’t even know about it. Throughout the book, the existence and meaning of the beast go through significant changes. In the beginning, the boys believe the beast to be a substantive being. At first no one believes it, but later they begin to believe its existence. Later though, the beast reveals itself as an internal flaw within everyone on the island, and slowly begins to take over the children’s free will. As the belief in the beast goes up, its manifestation as the “typical beast” that we all think of goes down, which is ironic because they are creating the beast in their minds, while also living it out in their actions. When the boys initially land on the island, they have tons of fun and are completely carefree. Only a couple of days later though, the “little ‘uns” begin to have dreams about beasts attacking them at night. …show more content…
During the first stage, the majority of the children on the island denounce the idea of a beast. During the second stage, the children begin to believe in the beast but the only evidence they have to demonstrate this is the little ‘uns dreams. During the third stage, they wholly believe in the beast and believe that they have seen evidence of its existence with the dead pilot on the top of the mountain. The third stage marks a turning point in what the beast is because after the third stage the beast is no longer some tangible being, but something inside of them that they cannot hope to control without some form of rule or
The beast displays the truth about mankind and their actions, making the readers understand what is happening in the world. Sam and Eric are on duty to maintain the fire and they encounter the dead parachuter, thinking that it is the beast. The twins run being horrified from what they saw (Golding 96-98). The parachuter, the beast of air is the consequence and the result of war, exhibiting the harsh actions humans are capable of doing. The beast also incorporate the human want of having power. Jack is unable to get the English boys on his side, so he uses their fear of the beast to manipulate them stating: “I gave you food, and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe?” (150). In reality, many people uses the means of fear to control and have power over people, like dictators. This shows that power given to the wrong people can destroy or affect negatively on humanity. Near the end the boys turn on Ralph and causes chaos among the island. The naval officer condemn their actions as he says: The officer says: “I should've thought that a pack of British boys. . . would have been able to put up a better show” (202). It is ironic how he chastises them for their actions, but ignore the fact he is a naval officer and participates in war and in the act of killing humans. This is how William Golding shows how the reality is shown through the beast and how power can have its
In Beast From Air, the boys have the false idea of the beast being the dead parachutist that falls on the island: the fear the boys have of the beast leads to the death of Simon in chapter 9, A View to a Death. A factual interpretation of the beast would be that it represents danger and a direct threat to the boys; it can be a symbol of chaos and death within the island. An extended interpretation of the beast is that it represents the innate evil in humans, the primal, bestial feelings within us all: one of the novel’s main themes. Although the beast is metaphorical, the boys' behavior is what brings the beast into existence, so the more savagely the boys act, the more real the beast seems to become. This is realized by Simon and is proposed in Beast From Water after a littlun suggests the possibility of the beast on the island: “What I mean is . . . maybe it’s only us”. Simon explains that perhaps the beast is only the boys themselves. The boys ignore Simon’s realization, yet Simon’s words are central to Golding’s point that inborn human evil exists. Simon is the first character in the novel to see the beast not as an outer force, but as a constituent element of human nature.
Fear was the real danger on the island. Although the boys did not see the hidden danger that they believed to be a beast, they let it take control of them and change who they were. The beast was created in the littluns minds because they wanted to make their fear of the dark and being trapped and alone, into something tangible. They created an object that could be stopped, otherwise it would be undefeatable, and they would be trapped and vulnerable. Each new fear fed to the story of the beast, growing it and its power over the boys. Kirstin Olsen stated, “Lord of the flies remains an influential and powerful commentary on human evil… It explores some of the most intense urges and emotions in our repertoire: the desire for power, the fear of the unknown, fear of other people, anger, and jealousy.” These emotions shaped the beast, filling the littluns heads with fear. The beast symbolized both fear and the darkness of humanity, though the darkness is also what the boys feared. When the boy...
Every person has a beast within them, but not every beast comes out. In William Golding’s Lord of The Flies, a plane full of young boys between the ages of 6-12 end up crashing and getting stranded on a desert island. From hunting to survival, the boys have to work together to ensure survival. Not long after being on the island, everything goes haywire very fast. Throughout the book, the boy’s inner beasts from within started coming out, especially once authority went from Ralph to Jack. These young boys’ true beasts come out when there is no law's, authority, or adult supervision.
The story took place during WWII, so is it possible that the “beast” was just the war happening around them? William Golding was involved in the war and it left an indelible impact on Golding, “the war produced one notable effect on me. Scared me stiff. It was a turning point for me” (Doc C). It is plausible that the author would’ve included war symbols in his book. The airplane that blew up near the island ejected a person that parachuted down to the island, it was night time when Sam and Eric saw this person land and eventually die. Some of the kids could’ve know about the war but at night it would’ve been definitely hard to see what was coming down, and without knowing what it was, the kids automatically assumed it was the beast. “The figure fell and crumpled among the blue flowers of the mountain-side, but now there was a gentle breeze at this height too and the parachute flopped and banged and pulled… Then as though they had but one terrified mind between them they scrambled away over the rocks and fled… ‘Ralph! Wake up!’ ‘What’s the matter?’ ‘We saw the beast’” (Doc
After thinking they saw the “beast”, Jack and Ralph call an assembly to tell the boys they came face to face with the hideous creature. Ralph tells the boys, in referring to fighting the beast, that “[they] would [not] fight [it].’ He believes that the boys would ‘hide, even Jack [would] hide’”(Golding 124). Knowing the “beast” is real frightens the boys more than before because they now know it is not just their imagination. In the beginning, they have confidence in themselves that they can kill the “beast but now that Ralph and Jack say it is real the boys are more skeptical about their abilities to kill it. Ralph acknowledges the fact that the “beast” is something that all the boys are scared of and how even Jack, one of the bravest on the island, is too scared to fight it. Throughout the novel, the fear of the “beast” continues to increase, but Simon realizes that the “beast” is within each person in the group and the creature is not real. During a stormy night, Simon realizes that the creature thought to be a “beast” is actually a dead parachuter. While rushing down to tell the boys, they mistake Simon for the “beast” and attack him as he is “crying out against the abominable noise about a body on the hill” the group “[surges] after [him], leaps onto [him], strike, bite, [and] tear”(Golding 152). This gruesome killing shows how fear can impact one’s thought process. In an article about fear, it talks about how people “can become violent, and can even become deadly; [fear] can cause an instinctive reaction to rising adrenaline levels rather than a consciously thought-out decision”( Science Daily ). For the boys on the island, the fear of the “beast” being real causes them to hurt each other, kill each other, and causes chaos to erupt. The boys believe there is a creature living with them on the island, which leads to a great fear
It has been a few weeks on the island. I choose to be Ralph’s side, because he was the only one to personally speak to me. An everyday image for us group of boys is Jack and his hunters hunt while Ralph, Simon, and I build shelters and Piggy and the littluns build a rescue fire. Jack harassing Piggy and then going to bed musing about being rescued. Today was different though. Today we are going to find out if the beast is real. We have been walking through the jungle all day listening to Jack and Ralph argues about being chief, which, is getting on my last nerve. As the sky changed into a dark shade, Simon volunteered to go back and help Piggy with the littluns. I don’t know why he wanted to go back alone but if anyone would sacrifice, it would be him. We reached the mountain! Jack went climbing up on his own while Ralph, and I waited for him. Eventually we decided to go up. “There was a slithering noise high above them, the sounds of someone taking a giant and dangerous strides on a rock or ash” (Golding 121). As jack came down, he had a croaking feel to him. He said he saw something bulge. Ralph and I decided to go take a peak. When we got to the top, we saw a creature.
Most children, especially infants, do not know what is real and what is not real due to all the scary movies they watch, the scary stories they are told, and the nightmares they have. Therefore, they need an adult to remind them of what is real and what is imaginary. But since there are no adults no the island to remind the boys of these things, they are scared. All the fear that evokes from the boys causes chaos. " ’He still says he saw the beastie. It came and went away again an' came back and wanted to eat him--’ ‘He was dreaming.’ Laughing, Ralph looked for confirmation round the ring of faces. The older boys agreed; but here and there among the little ones was the doubt that required more than rational assurance,” (Golding 36). The little boy who said he saw a beast spreads fear among the crowd of boys, especially the little ones. Ralph tries to remind them that the beast is not real, but the boys don’t believe him since Ralph is not an adult. The fear that is still among the boys causes them to believe that there really is a beast and causes growing chaos throughout the novel. The growing chaos transforms the boys into savages and causes violent behavior. This factor and the other two factors, peer pressure and the boys’ desire to have fun, caused them to transform into
The boys had been unable to think clearly and their imagination was led astray, eventually leading them to consciously acknowledge that the “beast” was real. Early in the book, after the small community was developed on the island, a claim that a “snake-thing,” or beastie, was roaming around the island. Ralph tries to explain to the boys that there are no such thing, but they wouldn’t have it. A boy cries out, “He still says he saw the beastie. It came and went away again an’ came back and wanted to eat him--” (Golding 36). Despite Ralph’s insistence that he was dreaming, the littluns were doubtful. Eventually, this little claim leads to a whole new beginning of the beast’s power. As the story continues, Jack, Ralph, and Roger goes up the mountain to see the “beast” for themselves. Without confirming that the bowing figure they had seen was an actual beast, they went back down, called an assembly, and had discussed how to deal with the situation. Even Ralph had decided for himself and told Piggy that there was an actual beast, and it is very likely that this was because Jack insisted that there was a beast and Ralph was afraid so he had went along with it. A long while after this, Jack and his hunters march into the forest and hunt for a pig, hoping for a feast. After the hunters’ brutal killing of the sow, Jack declares “This head is for
Golding makes it a point to mention that the boys think the beast to be, “a dark thing, a beast, some sort of animal” (83). This animal they are mentioning gives the connotation that the beast is a dark and big creature that is waiting to pounce on them. Next, the boys go on to assume that the beast can be captured and killed, even going as far to say, “If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat” (91). But, none of these poor labelings are accurate! The beast that terrifies the boys is in fact the instinct of savagery that exists in each and every human being, but the only character in the book to realize this is Simon, to whom the Lord of the Flies directly tells, “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” (143). Although this is only one instance a part of a novel, it illustrates vividly how poorly humans stereotype the characteristics of a beast, and how a real beast certainly does not have to fit any of these
Simply, the beast represents two things: darkness and the savagery that potentially exists in all of us, which is shown more in the boys when this “beast” comes about. As the boys grow more savage, their beliefs in the beast grow stronger. Also, it represents the boy's fears. The existence of this creature is driven by their imagination and is fueled by their fears. Even though the boys are all afraid of this beast, only Simon and Piggy realizes that this beast exists only in their mind. In this quote, Piggy states that the beast is just fear of the unknown: "I know there isn't no beast—not with claws and all that, I mean—but I know there isn't no fear, either" (99) . Simon, on the other hand, says that the beast is "only us" (195). But as soon as the boys see a dead parachutist who landed on the mountains, they feel sure that they now have proof that this creature exists which drives their imaginations and thoughts even more wild, even though the dead body proves no threat towards the boys. The fear of the beast and desire to kill it shows how almost all of the boys humanity has been lost during the time on the island. In addition, Golding uses the boy's’ behaviour to show
The theme of the novel is the collapse of the society. The friendships among the boys are destructive because they do not realize the beast inside of them. They show their ego to each other. The beast is something evil within themselves and it is not a savage animal that is caved ‘Lord of the Flies’.
This leads to the fact that a beast really does exist within all human beings, but is only expressed when human instinct for survival becomes the main objective. At first the boys aren?t able to kill, but as survival instinct starts taking over, the reader?s are able to se the true character?s play out, and lives are compromised. ?You feel as if you?re not hunting, but- being hunted, as if something?s behind you all the time in the jungle,? (pg.53) proves that it?s every man for himself and people will do anything to survive. An example of this in the novel was when Robert became the ?pig,? and was wounded even though it wasn?t intentional, but the situation became worse when Piggy?s death happened as a result of all civilization lost and evil taken over.
When the boys began on the island, they were mere children with nearly level minds, seeking guidance during a time of uncertainty with no parents, and as they found their leadership in Ralph and Jack, the seed of primal nature was planted. Primal nature resides in all of humanity, what separates us from beasts, however, is technology and civilization. One is always in conflict with restraining man’s inner beast-some cannot contain it-and turn into wild beasts themselves. In William Golding’s Lord of The Flies, Ralph finds himself conflicted with constraining man’s inner beast and it’s influences.
The Lord of the Flies is meant to be a peace offering to the beast, but symbolizes the boys’ fears and inherent evil pushing them to savagery. Although, The Lord of the Flies isn’t evident at the beginning of the novel it soon shows up as a peace offering to the “beast.” Responding to the elusive “beast” Jack says, “‘This head is for the beast. It’s a gift,’” (Golding 137). In