A distressing emotion aroused by impending evil and pain, whether the threat is real or imagined is described as fear. Fear is what William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies encompasses. By taking three major examples from the novel, fear will be considered on different levels: Simon’s having no instance of fear, Ralph’s fear of isolation on the island, and Jack’s fear of being powerless. Fear can make people behave in ways that are foreign to them, whether their fear is real or imagined. In response to fear, people may act defensively by attacking, fear can either stop one from doing something, or it can make one behave in an irrational erratic manner.
On contrary from all the other boys on the island Simon, a Christ like figure in the novel, did not fear the ‘beastie’ or the unknown. “Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us” Simon explained. (p. 97) The fear of the unknown in the novel contributes to the boys’ terror of the beast, the beast is an imaginary figure which lays in all of the boys’ minds and haunts them. Golding uses the beast as a symbol of the evil that exists in every creature. "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are the way they are?" The sow head announced to Simon to be the “lord of the flies”. The “lord of the flies” is a figure of the devil, and brings out all the evil and fear in people. It wants you to fear it, but if you don’t believe in the “lord of the flies” nothing can happen to you. Therefore Simon didn’t fall into the trap, but the beast killed him, meaning the other boys on the island did. Simon discovered that the beast is in fact just a dead parachute man before he died and ran down to tell the boys about his finding. When Sim...
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...t. By physically punishing the boys, they will fear Jack, so they will obey him "We’ve got to have rules and obey them" (P.47).
In closing, fear can make people act in ways that are unfamiliar to them, whether their fear is valid or imaginary. In reply to fear, people may act defensively by being violent, fear can either stop one from doing something, or it can make one behave in an absurd unpredictable behaviour. As revealed, fear is demonstrated in the “Lord of the Flies” in three major ways: Simon’s lack of fear, Ralph’s fear of being isolated, and Jacks vast fear of being over powered by Ralph. Evil and fear is brought to the island by the boys themselves believed Golding. The world will essentially always have the same problem until every human being on the earth is unblemished, until there is no more evil or fear in the world. Obviously fear isn’t over rated.
Human's fears should not be taken lightly. Fear could do anything to one's minds, though without fear, man can be as savage as animals. In the book Lord of the Flies, William Golding presented fear of the unknown to be a powerful force in a man's mind. Fear of the unknown is a powerful force, which can turn to either insight or hysteria. The kids feared of not being rescued off of the island, so they made signal fires on top of the mountain. Then, there and gone, Roger's fear of the old rules he abided to. Also, there were the fears of the beast which confused and isolated the kids from the top of the mountain.
... and the fight on the island. Not only is fear damaging in Lord of the Flies and A Separate Peace , but it also affects our society today in many ways. For example, the war on terror/terrorism is an example of both an external conflict and the savage nature of man. It has caused so many catastrophic and fatal events in our history, like the 9/11 attack and any war that followed it. The attack on the twin towers shows just how inhumane humans can be and starts a world-wide conflict. Our “follow-up” attack was done out of fear and equally as savage as theirs and shows what we will do just to protect our country. Again this goes back to the concept of survival of the fittest but in an international scale. Fear is an everyday emotion that the human race must face, and it can bring out the best and worst of us, but its how we choose to deal with it that truly defines us.
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...
Whether people will deny it or not, it is certainly apparent that human nature is all too evil; for there is a demon that lurks in everyone, just waiting to come out. Humans can build civilizations and attempt to deviate themselves from such basic instincts, yet nevertheless, evil is not something that they can run from; it is not something that they can defeat. William Golding knew this, and so in his book, Lord of the Flies, he presents so by portraying a microcosm of a society in the form of little British schoolboys. Their plane, in an attempt to escape from the raging war, came to its own demise as it was shot down, leaving the boys stranded on an island they know nothing of. Ralph, later on the leader of the boys, and with the help of
Lord of the Flies has several themes that are the key to understanding of literature. Three of the themes of this novel are the fear, courage and lastly survival. Fear has been surrounded throughout the entire novel. With the amount of fear because of an apparent beast, many of the people on the island have changed. Most of the boys have become more violent throughout the novel and have no sense of direction as what to do next. Jack was one of those people who had changed majorly throughout the novel. Courage is one of the most important things to have mentally and physically when you’re stuck in an unknown island. Ralph’s courage in the book became strong when he had lost two of his close companions in Simon and Piggy. Survival is the best theme in this novel simply because of the lack of tools and the laziness of the people throughout the book. These themes show how great and wonderful this book is, and if you read it thoroughly, you will understand the perils and the adventure of Ralph, Jack and the rest of the boys in Lord of the Flies.
the novel the Lord of the Flies, fear is the root of the trouble that
He is an allusion to Jesus Christ. Simon is the only boy to adventure alone on the island and is not afraid of the “Lord of the Flies” which is referred to as the Devil. In chapter eight, Simon has a conversation with the “Lord of the Flies”: “‘What are you doing here all alone? Aren’t you afraid of me?’ Simon shook. ‘There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the beast.’ ‘You knew, didn’t you? I’m apart of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?’” (158). This is a biblical reference to when Jesus Christ fasted for forty days and nights in the Judaean Desert. The bible states that Satan appeared to Jesus and was trying to tempt him to give up. However, because Simon is one of the “odd” one out of the group, he is depicted as an outsider. There are only a few fears that Simon possesses. He has a fear of being an outsider which comes about throughout the novel. Another one of Simon’s fear includes a fear for his companions’ fate. Out of fear for the group, Simon goes to tell the boys that the Beast is just their imagination and does not exist. In the process of doing so, he is mistaken as the Beast and is killed by the group of not-so-innocent
In most cases, fear can greatly alter how people act and therefore can shape lives for the better and for the worst. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a plane crashes on an island leaving the remaining boys all alone without any adults. This leaves them overwhelmed and afraid as they have never been in this situation previously, but also puts other fears that the boys may have suffered through prior to this experiences into action. This fearfulness that the whole group has, whether it be for their survival or because of personal issues, alters their views and thoughts so greatly as it therefore led to the inhumane killing of Simon. Simon death was overall a result of the fear of the unknown, Jack fearfulness of not being the
Fear drives people to act completely out of character and unusual for themselves. In most cases, the change of character is not for the best. Sophie Wender acts un-brave and afraid when she runs away from the fear of the unknown. Joseph Storm acts not so out of character for himself, but out of character for a fatherly figure when facing the problem of his son asking something he fears. Lastly, Emily Storm acts very out of character from her naturally caring motherly self when she calls her niece who has a deviation a monster. Fear is a one of the strongest emotions humans have to face. When faced with fear, everyone must learn to control their emotions so they do not come off as someone they are not.
William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, is one of symbolism and allegory. William Golding uses his novel to prove fear to be mankind’s greatest weakness. The allegory in this novel reveals that not only is fear mankind’s greatest weakness, but it also brings out the inner-beast in people; forcing mankind into either insanity or their own destruction. William Golding captures this allegory through symbolism in the characters of Ralph, Jack, and the Lord of the Flies (the beast), as well as using their interactions with each other and the island.
In Lord of the Flies, Golding proves that fear draws out man’s inner evil and barbarism. Within the novel, Golding uses characterization of the boys and symbolism of the beast to show the gradual change from their initial civility to savagery and inhumanity. Learned civility, order and humanity become ultimately futile in the face of fear. The author teaches that without logic, fear consumes endlessly. He shows that fear clouds the mind, thus making it absolutely imperative to maintain reason and logic throughout life. Fear will always end in a fate worse than death for those who survive it.
Our first aspect of Fear in the novel comes into play with the Beast. This fictional character becomes the center of the boys problems on the island and brings a long chaos and death. Simon is murdered due to the befuddlement of Simon being mistaken as the beast when in fact he was the jesus like figure and his death was a representation of sacrifice. The beast was not something tangible it was simply the boys because the beast was themselves. Our biggest demons in life rest within oneself, and on the island the beast was just a justification for the boys to blame their wrong doings on. William Golding refers to this using the role of simon by stating: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are" (158)?
In The Lord of the Flies, fear is the cause of all destruction and violence, which leads to savagery, and disobeying of human morals. Throughout the entire book fear is what drives these young innocent boys into savagery, and what also pulls most of them away from expectable human behavior. Without the normal rules of society helping to guide them, they become disoriented with the new surroundings, therefore freighting them into savage ways.
One of many prominent themes in William Golding's novel, the Lord of the Flies, is Fear. From the very first chapter, until the last, fear plays an important role in this text. It is the only thing, which stops the boys from acting rationally at times, from questioning curious circumstances and it physically hindered so many of the boys, so many times. The active role of fear in Lord of the Flies, was intentionally used by Golding, because he knew what images it would create. Fear is described by Mirriam- Webster's English dictionary, as To be uneasy or apprehensive'. This feeling is mutually experienced by all of the boys on the island in many different ways. Initially the boys have an obvious fear of being alone, which then brings upon the fear of what we know as the beast, or as the littluns refer to is, as the beastie'. While this fear continues for the whole of the novel, we are also exposed to three other incidents of fear. The first of these is the civilised fear of consequences, displayed only when the children are seen as young civilised boys, in the earliest chapters. The final two are of a different nature, with those fears being the loss of power, the fear of rejection and the fear of being in the minority. All of these different fears, then relate back to the character, and as was expertly planned out by William Golding, influences the characters attitudes and behaviours.
In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys from England are evacuated out of their country due to a war. The plane is then shot down and results into a plane crash on a deserted island. The boys are left all alone with no adults, no supplies, and no one to come and rescue them. They are all on their own and have to establish a new “society”. The boys have to choose someone to govern them and that person ends up being Ralph, who had an internal struggle between what is right and wrong closer to the end of the novel. The boys turn into savages, killing each other, and showing their evil inside each of them. According to, William Golding man is inherently evil, evil is in all of us, but it is oppressed by society, and comes out when there is not anything to hold us back, civilization is what holds back evil from coming out, or it is what triggers evil inside of man.