A Brief Note On Empire Island

Lenny Parisi
March 2, 2015
Mrs. Miller
S period

The plane crash, the storm, the heat, the unmanageable fear of the beast, and the lack of food and water. These are the conditions these boys were living in during their time on the island. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, these boys have killed. Do you really think these seven to twelve year old children intentionally committed murder? The horrible conditions drove them to an unstable state of mind and greatly affected the decisions they made. Prosecutors have argued that they purposefully murdered Simon and Piggy, fully aware of what they were doing and who they were killing. This is absolutely false. Due to the environmental conditions the boys experienced, and the traumatic events they faced,
The fear was so strong that it altered the way they thought. In fact, it caused the boys to do things without thinking. “Fear, an emotion that evolved to deal with danger, causes an automatic, rapid protective response that occurs without the need for conscious thought.” (National Institute of Mental Health) Have you ever been incredibly scared? Did it affect the way you thought or reacted? People tend to do violent things when fear starts to overwhelm them. For example, George Zimmerman killed a 17-year old boy, Trayvon Martin, out of fear for his life. “He argued that Martin had thrown the first punch in the confrontation and that Zimmerman, fearing he was at risk of bodily harm or even loss of his life, had a right to protect himself.” ( Historic U.S. Events) Likewise, the boys killed Simon out of fear for their own lives. They thought he was the beast coming to kill them, which is why they should not be punished for Simon’s murder. In Ralph’s testimony, he said, “The circle became a horseshoe. A thing was crawling out of the forest. It came darkly, uncertainly. The shrill screaming that rose before the beast was like a pain. The beast stumbled into the horseshoe.” (Golding) The boys were so fired up with the chanting, and the overwhelming fear that was within each one of them, that they reacted accordingly. Simon was murdered merely out of instinct don’t you
These conditions prevented the boys from distinguishing fantasy from reality, right from wrong. After the horrible plane crash, the ferocious storm, the overwhelming fear, and the lack of nutrition, would you expect that all of these would have no effect on the boys? Does the weak evidence the prosecution has presented really make you want to punish these boys? The killings of Simon and Piggy were preceded by unbelievable confusion and fear. How could you possibly hold them accountable for