Summary Of Fear In William Golding's 'Lord Of The Flies'
The Beast’s Representation of Fear Class Period G October 28, 2012 “Fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream.” William Golding, Lord of the Flies. Fear has been around for thousands of years and plays a huge role in our society. In today’s society, fear is displayed in many different forms and no matter where you go you can never get away from it. Fear plays a big part in how and why the world’s people make their decisions and affects us all each and every day. Being scared is very influential on today’s people and how they make their decisions. We need fear as an explanation on why some things happen. William Golding uses the island in Lord of the Flies to create a microcosm of society and he uses the children’s imagination
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of a beast to represent how fear affects us all. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the beast represents fear in the form of a snake-thing, beast from water and from air, and a beast from within. Towards the beginning of Lord of the Flies, the beast represents fear in the form of a snake-thing. This idea of a beast first entered the imagination of the boy’s minds when a boy with a mulberry-colored birthmark brought it up at the group of boy’s first assembly. At first, when Ralph hears this, he makes excuses to the group of boys’ on why a beastie could not live on island like the one they were on. He says “You couldn’t have a beastie, snake-thing, on an island this size.”(pg 36) This is one of five times Ralph tries to reassure the group that there isn’t a beastie which in a way shows how the fear has gotten to him also like it has with everybody else. Early on, on the island fear plays a huge role in the group’s minds and the fear of a beast will remain in their minds in many different forms throughout the entire book. The beast’s representation of fear plays a huge role in Lord of the Flies from the very beginning of the boys’ time on the island. In the middle of Lord of the Flies, the fear from the beast is represented by two things, a beast from water and a beast from air.
Maurice suggests the beast comes from water and could be like a squid that can come on and off land at one of the group’s assemblies. The reason why this whole conversation is brought up is because earlier on a littlun explained that he saw a beast outside the shelters but it could have been a nightmare which is also one of the many forms of fear. Later on in this conversation, it is to be suggested a ghost; so already the children’s fear has taken many forms. In the next couple of days the twins had acclaimed they had been attacked by a beast that could fly. They said “It was furry. There was something moving behind its head- wings.”(pg 100) This quote explains the twin’s fear that the idea of a beast has somehow morphed into a horrid creature that can fly. At this point everyone, even Ralph believes in the beast because they have physical evidence being that Sam and Eric are all scratched up which is possibly from running through the jungle and branches hitting them on the way by. The boys’ fear of this beast no matter what form it comes in end up turning them against each other in the long run of the
book. At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies, a literary reader could see how the beast’s from within the boys in large part was the cause for them to descend into savagery. Once the island is split between Jack’s tribe and Ralph’s tribe, Jack uses fear to keep control of all the members of his tribe, he has a littlun beat. This is an example of Jack’s beast inside using physical punishment to strike fear in the eyes of his group and surprisingly, it works for the time being. Later on in the chapter, Simon has meandered off like usual and unfortunately, chooses to come back at the wrong time. It was dark and all the boys were in the middle of a savage-like dance about killing the beast and when Simon comes back, the group of boys mistake him for the beast and stab him to death. No one really actually knew it was Simon except for Ralph and Piggy and you can tell this when Ralph says “That was Simon. Piggy. That was murder.”(pg 156) This is another example of the beast within the boys coming out and using fear on themselves to cause them to make irrational decisions about what they saw and didn’t see. The beast from within greatly affected the tribe of boys throughout all of Lord of the Flies and truly represented how humans can be the cause of their own fear. In Lord of the Flies, the beast represents fear in William Golding’s microcosm of the world’s society. The fear that the beast represents causes all the boys on the island to make inept decisions throughout the book which clearly weren’t thought out. Fear is the very reason we have excuses for most of the things we do wrong and without there is a huge gap in reason of society. Although fear causes society to make bad decisions, with the right kind of mind it has also led to many progressions in the human race. After reading Lord of the Flies, you must ask yourself, how does fear plays a role in your life decisions?
of a beast to represent how fear affects us all. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the beast represents fear in the form of a snake-thing, beast from water and from air, and a beast from within. Towards the beginning of Lord of the Flies, the beast represents fear in the form of a snake-thing. This idea of a beast first entered the imagination of the boy’s minds when a boy with a mulberry-colored birthmark brought it up at the group of boy’s first assembly. At first, when Ralph hears this, he makes excuses to the group of boys’ on why a beastie could not live on island like the one they were on. He says “You couldn’t have a beastie, snake-thing, on an island this size.”(pg 36) This is one of five times Ralph tries to reassure the group that there isn’t a beastie which in a way shows how the fear has gotten to him also like it has with everybody else. Early on, on the island fear plays a huge role in the group’s minds and the fear of a beast will remain in their minds in many different forms throughout the entire book. The beast’s representation of fear plays a huge role in Lord of the Flies from the very beginning of the boys’ time on the island. In the middle of Lord of the Flies, the fear from the beast is represented by two things, a beast from water and a beast from air.
Maurice suggests the beast comes from water and could be like a squid that can come on and off land at one of the group’s assemblies. The reason why this whole conversation is brought up is because earlier on a littlun explained that he saw a beast outside the shelters but it could have been a nightmare which is also one of the many forms of fear. Later on in this conversation, it is to be suggested a ghost; so already the children’s fear has taken many forms. In the next couple of days the twins had acclaimed they had been attacked by a beast that could fly. They said “It was furry. There was something moving behind its head- wings.”(pg 100) This quote explains the twin’s fear that the idea of a beast has somehow morphed into a horrid creature that can fly. At this point everyone, even Ralph believes in the beast because they have physical evidence being that Sam and Eric are all scratched up which is possibly from running through the jungle and branches hitting them on the way by. The boys’ fear of this beast no matter what form it comes in end up turning them against each other in the long run of the
book. At the conclusion of Lord of the Flies, a literary reader could see how the beast’s from within the boys in large part was the cause for them to descend into savagery. Once the island is split between Jack’s tribe and Ralph’s tribe, Jack uses fear to keep control of all the members of his tribe, he has a littlun beat. This is an example of Jack’s beast inside using physical punishment to strike fear in the eyes of his group and surprisingly, it works for the time being. Later on in the chapter, Simon has meandered off like usual and unfortunately, chooses to come back at the wrong time. It was dark and all the boys were in the middle of a savage-like dance about killing the beast and when Simon comes back, the group of boys mistake him for the beast and stab him to death. No one really actually knew it was Simon except for Ralph and Piggy and you can tell this when Ralph says “That was Simon. Piggy. That was murder.”(pg 156) This is another example of the beast within the boys coming out and using fear on themselves to cause them to make irrational decisions about what they saw and didn’t see. The beast from within greatly affected the tribe of boys throughout all of Lord of the Flies and truly represented how humans can be the cause of their own fear. In Lord of the Flies, the beast represents fear in William Golding’s microcosm of the world’s society. The fear that the beast represents causes all the boys on the island to make inept decisions throughout the book which clearly weren’t thought out. Fear is the very reason we have excuses for most of the things we do wrong and without there is a huge gap in reason of society. Although fear causes society to make bad decisions, with the right kind of mind it has also led to many progressions in the human race. After reading Lord of the Flies, you must ask yourself, how does fear plays a role in your life decisions?