Lord Of The Flies Hero's Journey Essay

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Have you ever had a single point in your life where you had no opposition at all? Probably not. Almost everyone’s life has an enemy they must face, but why? Do people come up with a “devil figure” if they don’t have one? In Golding’s Lord of the Flies, much of the book involves the boys theorizing about there being a beast on the island. In truth there wasn’t one, but they still made one up. People enjoy having a devil figure in their life, even if it’s imaginary.

For one, having a challenge to overcome is a natural part of life. Many movies, books, video games, and other forms of media use the “hero’s journey”format. It involves having a bunch of steps that a hero takes during his or her journey, one of which is having to overcome a challenge. The reason this format is so successful is because of mankind’s desire for something to overcome in life. Children who play with guns or swords like to fight each other are another example of this. Kids like to antagonize …show more content…

The first of these was the “snake beastie”. It was an imagined beast allegedly seen by the smaller boys. The boys had yet to see any antagonism on the island yet, so it was created early on. After that, theories were formed about a beast that came from the water. Notice that when the boys start to theorize about a new beast, they forget about the old ones. This is because there is the human tendency to focus on one thing, which in this situation, is the beast. That’s why they create the beast in their mind: to have an enemy. Near the end of the book, Sam and Eric see the parachutist caught in the trees and mistake it for the beast. Later, Ralph and Jack see it too and also get scared off. In truth, the man looked very little like a beast. The boys most likely mistook it for a beast because of their bias. They were already expecting a beast, so they filled it in

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