Fear In Lord Of The Flies And Life Of Pi

In the novels Lord of the Flies and Life of Pi the sensation of fear is a prodigious presence, fear is inflicted in Lord of the Flies mainly because the boys’ sense of judgment and behaviour ultimately changes when fear conquers and fear is encountered in Life of Pi because Pi experiences genuine terror once his ship has sunk and several acts of violence are committed before his own eyes. Fear is all-encompassing in both novels and this can be proven through exploration of the characters Richard Parker and “the Beast”. To begin, Richard Parker symbolises fear for the simple reason that he is a tiger and Pi is a boy who is terrified of this tiger. Pi “..expected to see Richard Parker rising up and coming for [him] any second” (Martel 120).
It came and went again an’ came back and wanted to eat him-’” (Golding 35). The little boys are afraid of this unknown beast and the rumors about it appear increasingly more true. Just as Richard Parker is a manifestation of Pi’s fear in Life of Pi, the children in Lord of the Flies cannot comprehend the fear they feel on the island so they put it into something they will understand and that is “the Beast”. Although “the Beast” is simply a product of imagination, the fear it exposes changes the boys and they forget all sense of order. When the chant“‘Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.’” (72) is recited is as a prime example of how the beast altered the mindset and decision making of the young boys. While the boys chant they give into their fear of the beast and therefore they change the way they act and don’t realize what they are saying. Subsequently, the readers can see that the novels Life of Pi and Lord of the Flies are similar because both books contain the fear of the unknown. Pi does not understand why people could be so ferocious and the boys on the island can’t comprehend what surrounds them so the characters in both books put their fear into something that they can comprehend, Richard Parker and “the