Who Is The Beast In Lord Of The Flies

Throughout the novel Lord Of The Flies, the boys on the island are continuously faced with numerous fears. Subsequently there is nothing on the island which they fear more than the beast. The beast is not a tangible object that can be killed or destroyed by conventional means, but an idea symbolizing the primal savage instincts within all people. Its Golding’s intention to illustrate the innate evil inside man through his view of human nature, the actions of the Jack and his tribe, and the relationship between the beast and the school boys.

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When people think of a beast, a few ideas may come to mind. The monster that lives under your bed, a creature with fangs, or abomination waiting in the dark. But how often does one consider that the scariest beast may be humans themselves? In Sir WIlliam Golding’s novel “The Lord of the Flies,” boys stranded on a remote island are terrorized by a beast, similarly to some children and even adults in the real world. However, the events and actions of Jack and Ralph in Golding’s novel illustrate that the beast is really humans themselves, and their unending selfishness throughout the story.

“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us,.” said William Golding, Lord of the Flies. When a symbol is examined, many conclusions can be drawn by relating the symbol to society and real life. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, even though the beast does represent something one can hurt or kill, as a symbol it represents a larger concept or idea because it brings out the beast-like personalities of the boys on the island, illustrates Jack’s dominant personality, and portrays the personalities inside all of us which humans can never defeat.

Throughout Lord of the Flies, Golding shows his views of the inherent evil of humans. He shows how humans can be in such a savage state, practically mimicking the way of life of their prehistoric ancestors. He exemplifies this with acts of carnage carried on by the young stranded children. It all started with a slight urge to hunt down a pig and then continued on to murdering another human being. Golding shows his views best at the end of the book with the boys being rescued by a Navy crew, which would go on to war it self.

A beast in man’s eyes can be many different things, this remains true in William Golding’s Lord of the flies. Golding’s novel takes place with a group of schoolboys on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean. Without the guidance of grown-ups, the boys imaginations and fears run wild. So in Lord of the flies, what does the “beast” really represent? The representation of the so-called “beast” is ever changing throughout the novel.

Beast? “Kill it! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” WIlliam Golding’s Lord of the FLies is one ofthe most powerful and popular novels of the 20th century, but no one truly knows what the “beast” is, except for Golding himself. The novel begins just after a plane evacuating a group of English schoolboys has been shot down over an unnamed deserted island in the Pacific Ocean.When the boys first land, there is an air of adventure and even celebration at their newfound freedom from grownups, but what the children don’t know is that there is something there with them. As the book goes on, there are many different thought of what this thing is, or some would say what the “beast” is.

In the beginning of Lord of The Flies, the author first recognized the beast as a representation of fear. The author claims in Document A that Claire Rosefield interprets it as a symbol of fear. The text states that there are “no comforting mothers to dispel the terrors of the unknown” and that “they externalize these fears into the figure of a beast.” In Document B, the image of fear becomes clear. Golding starts further developing this image when the boy with the mulberry birthmark claims to have seen the beast.

“Maybe ... maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us”(William Golding). In the novel Lord of The Flies, William Golding exhibits the symbolism and representation of the beast. The beast represents the norm of society and how most citizens are conceived to evil. As the novel progresses, the reader's perspective of the beast transforms from a possibly harmful animal into to a representation of human civilization and how humans are ignorant and oblivious when it becomes survival of the fittest. The concept of the beast changes significantly during the novel from first the beast on land, then to the beast in the air and finally to the beast within the kids themselves.

Imagine sitting on an airplane, then all of a sudden you wake up and find yourself stranded on an uncharted island. Your palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms heavy. When all the adults have died and you are the only person alive with a group of boys on the break of adolescence… Without an adult how will one survive? In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies there are many characters that are perceived as savages. When an airplane crashes on an undiscovered island, the only survivors are young boys. Throughout the novel, the boys fight for their survival, but many fear that there is a beast who may be lurking on the island. As the boys were once moral, their innocence slowly disintegrates away and they turn into their true form, a bloodthirsty savage. Perhaps the beast is within themselves.

William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The Flies’ tells the story of a group of English boys isolated on a desert island, left to attempt to retain civilisation. In the novel, Golding shows one of the boys, Jack, to change significantly. At the beginning of the book, Jack’s character desires power and although he does not immediately get it, he retains the values of civilized behaviour. However, as the story proceeds, his character becomes more savage, leaving behind the values of society. Jack uses fear of the beast to control the other boys and he changes to become the book’s representation of savagery, violence and domination. He is first taken over with an obsession to hunt, which leads to a change in his physical appearance This change

The Beast in the Lord of the Flies symbolizes the boy’s fear of themselves and what they are capable of. The boys create the beast in their minds because it is easier to fear something that is external rather than something that is a part of you and tormenting you internally “‘Maybe,’ [Simon] said hesitantly ‘maybe there is a beast.’… ‘what I mean is… maybe it’s only us.’” (pg. 96). The beast is buried inside of everyone and being on the island, without the confines of civilisation, gave it allowance to come out. The beast is symbolic of their concern for losing the innocence that they have and becoming violent or uncivilized. The more the boys become “savage” the more the beast became real to them symbolizing how they are slowly drifting further and further from civilized ways.

The bird of paradise flower, is an alluring plant which blooms for a short time, but after a while it wilts and starts to rot much like the boys in Lord of the Flies who start off civilized, and soon devolve into savages. Lord of the Flies is a novel by William Golding which focuses on a group of schoolboys who inhabit a vacant island and quickly corrupt it with the help of symbolic matter. An idea of a beast, a dead paratrooper and a preeminent conch shell are three main factors which contribute to the boys’ downfall. More than anything else, fear of the unknown, the weakness of humanity and the rotting effect of power greatly contribute to the savagery of the boys in Lord of the Flies, which is developed through symbolism.

In English we read the book, “Lord of the Flies.” It was a book who’s author, William Golding, had written to show his view on man’s inherent true self. After going through WWII and seeing horrors that man would do to other man he became convinced man is inherently evil. The beast, a symbolic figure in the book, is the manifestation of the evil in every mans heart. This nonexistent beast tormented and manipulated the boys that were stranded on the island, eventually ruining the fragile civil society they built. William’s main point to bring across was even small boy, who’s ages range from five to twelve, can fall victim to the evil in

No one in this world is born good or evil, the title of good or evil is given to those people based on their actions and consequences. People's’ ideology of good or evil may shift from one side to the other, but it's the influences people around us have that causes whether we do good or evil things in this world. In William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, there is a beast that can take any shape or form. The beast that resides within all comes out when people are in fear and alone. When the children are left on an island with no adult to look up to and follow, disaster happens and it brings out their animal instincts. It's said that the beast isn't actually a physical wild beast, but rather than its the beast that is within ourselves, the savagery instincts that slowly turns people into animals and the declining of humanity´s order and rule of law.