Lord Of The Flies Fear Analysis

Fear is unique, and can manifest itself in many different ways, like nightmares, or uncertainty before doing an activity that is risky. For many, when the word “fear” is said to them, they think of their worst fears, such as clowns, ghosts, heights, and what not. Yet, on an island on which a plane full of boys crash lands, some uncommon fears lead to total destruction of civilization. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, it it evident that fear can and will eventually tear down the walls of civilization. It all starts when a plane crash lands into the trees of a lost island. The survivors soon meet up one by one along the shore of the island, and it is noteworthy that they are all boys, from the age range of six to twelve years. At once each boy develops their own characteristics with Ralph as their leader, Piggy being the brainiac, Jack the hunter, and many other “littluns” and “bigguns”. However, all is not well for too long, as their stay on the island continues, the boys become more savage-like, due to their fears. The different terrors these boys encounter lead to despicable actions, including two brutal murders. William Golding shows that fear, of all kinds, can lead to the destruction of civilization.

The relationship between the beast and the school boys is played out through the conversation between Simon and the Lord of the Flies. The Lord of the Flies or pig head tries to intimidate and forewarn Simon calling him,”just an ignorant, silly little boy”(184) and scoffs at Simon for thinking the beast is “something you could hunt or kill!” (184) Golding uses this symbolic beast, the Lord of the Flies, to reveal the truth to Simon which is that “they”(184) the boys on the island are the real beast. Before Simon faints the Lord of the Flies warms Simon that

the novel the Lord of the Flies, fear is the root of the trouble that

      The boys in the book, The Lord of the Flies, are controlled by their fear of the beast.  This fear is not of the beast itself, but of the unknown. It comes from not knowing whether or not a beast exists.

The fear begins internally with a few younger boys who are simply scared of the unknown and dark throughout the novel, and this simple childish fear was like a seed planted within them that slowly grew. The fear first grew into a beast that scared them at night. Golding first introduces the fear through the boy with the mulberry-colored birthmark who asks Piggy “What you’re going to do about the snake-thing”(35). All the boys soon become fearful of this unknown and unseen beast. This fear starts to take control of the boys, from this Jack arises and claims he would kill the beast if it was real. The fear in the children transforms into a new protected trust in Jack.

In Lord of the Flies by Golding, fear is a prevalent theme that recurs a number of times. Fear is most recurring with the character Jack and the way he uses fear to manipulate the group into staying together and doing things they wouldn't normally do.

Fear, an emotion induced by a perceived threat by living entities, which causes a change in brain and organ function and ultimately a change in behavior. Clair Rosenfield evaluated Lord of the Flies from a psychological standpoint stating “The younger children first, then gradually the older ones… begin to people the darkness of night and forest    with spirits and demons which had previously appeared only in their dreams or fairy tales.” (Document A) Based on Rosenfield’s observations the “Beast” is merely a figment of the boys’ fears centralized into

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.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, what is the beast? Well the beast first represents fear, then war, then savagery of human nature. The beast leads to arguments, fear, and savagery. The beast should not have been in the thoughts of the boys. If only the boys had their parents there with them.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was right in saying that the “only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Jack Merridew’s evil ways are evident as he uses fear to control the boys on the island. In the beginning of the book, his presence itself at the election of chief instills the first of the fears within each of the boys. Jack uses his personality as a menace to the boys on the island. Although Jack garners support from the majority of the group, they assist him only through fear of what he is capable of doing to them if they do not do as he commands. As one can see multiple times throughout the book, Jack deems it necessary to hunt down pigs on the island, but why? Jack carries a demon inside of him that allows him to do such acts. If things are not done as he wishes, his fury is unleashed on everyone around him. While the others find hunting as a chance for adventure, Jack practices it as if it were a ritual. This ritual extends beyond the pig caught between the “creepers”; pigs are eventually replaced with human flesh. The boys’ fear keep them in the circle of dancing for they are afraid that one of them will be the next in the center of the dance. This outlook on violence is what drives the fear inside them. Later on, Jack uses the belief of the beast to further enlarge the terror of the schoolboys. The idea of the beast was originally brought up by a “littlun” but Jack uses the little boy’s fear to his advantage. The sacrifices made, the spears, and the face

Further blinded by the illusion that their supposedly superior English heritage precludes savagery, the boys ignore the perverse qualities of their actions. Nevertheless, they become terrified as they increasingly feel the blight of their own evil upon the island. Attempting to attribute the decay of sanity and civilization to external sources, they fail to look inwards. When Simon correctly proposes that the beast is "maybe. . . only [themselves]" (89), the others scornfully dismiss him as "batty" (52) and his suggestion as invalid; they refuse to acknowledge Simon because they are neither capable nor willing to believe the frightening truth that the evil arises from within themselves. As a result, the boys manifest their fear in a dead parachutist whose appearance they grotesquely distort. Ironically, this source of fear comes from the majestic adult world to which they have so long

Power, in the case of Lord Of the Flies it’s a position of ascendancy over others: AUTHORITY. Fear is an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by expectation or awareness of danger.

In the Novel lord of the flies, it is evident that the stranded school boys attempt to build a civilization. Throughout the building of this new civilization the most challenging factor is leading the school boys and keeping the young boys on track, which is hard enough let alone being on an island with no adults. This making their civilization fragile. A constant fear is looming around the boys, which in the end is what breaks this fragile society. A fear of many factors including; Being stranded forever possibly, A beast and starvation. These fears divide the group of school boys and blinds the boys from the most important goal, surviving till their rescue.

The fear of the beast starts off as a very insignificant fear, as the older ones believe it to be nothing more than a nightmare; however, Ralph starts to become more concerned when the little ones appear to be truly traumatized. As the leader, Ralph reassures them, saying it is imaginary, but admits that he is fearful. Later on, this fear causes all the boys to be anxious and stressed, and they become paranoid of every single thing. Ralph and Jack decide to ascend the mountain, where they believe the beast lies, and they both begin to exhibit signs of fear. They flee the mountain after seeing glowing eyes. Ralph describes the frightening moment they saw the beast, and causes Piggy’s fears to be amplified. The discovery just provokes more terror amongst the boys, causing them become angered easily due to the effects of

Fear changes the way people act. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a plane crash in World War Two leaves about fifty boys ages six to twelve, stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean with no one adult to help them. The boys are forced to start a civilization and elect a leader. Because they are just young boys, everything on the island seems to scare them. Even trees rustling or a strange shadow seems to get them on edge. Because they are constantly scared it causes them to do things that they normally wouldn't do. Fear changes the way the boys think, act, and perceive their surroundings.