Fear In Lord Of The Flies Analysis

First, fear leads to abusive and violent behavior. One example of this is through the verbal and physical abuse that Piggy experiences by the hand of Jack. When Jack leaves to go hunt, he decides to take many of the other boys hunting as well and leaves the fire unattended, resulting in the fire dying out. Meanwhile, a ship passes by, but is unable to see the smoke on the island because the fire is gone, therefore crushing the best chance the boys had at rescue. After Jack and the other boys return from the hunt, Ralph confronts him about shirking his responsibilities. Ralph yells at Jack, and tells him that they would be rescued if had he kept the fire going like he said he would. Because of the confrontation, Jack begins to feel unnerved

‘You would, would you? Fatty!’” (Golding 71). Jack lets his anger and fear take control of his actions, which leads to his abusive and violent behavior to Piggy. As soon as the opportunity presented itself, Jack, who was “able at last to hit someone”, radically resorts to physical and verbal abuse because he is afraid. He is afraid because the other boys are looking at him and blaming him for letting the fire die, and they are starting to realize how bad of a leader he would be. Jack has an insatiable desire to become the leader of the boys, and when they no longer want to give him any more power, he becomes scared that his thirst for power will not result in leadership. So, he tries to get rid of that fear by showing his power over others, using Piggy as an example. Fueled by his fear, Jack physically abuses Piggy by “sticking his fist into Piggy’s stomach”, and then follows it up with verbal abuse by calling him “Fatty”. The use of the degrading word “Fatty” and how Jack rhetorically asks “You would, would you?” demonstrates his disrespect towards Piggy and gives a reason to why Jack chose Piggy as his