Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Importance of Fear in The Lord of the Flies Essay -- Lord of the Flies
Importance of Fear in The Lord of the Flies      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 children start as one united group. They are a community in their own. Slowly, rules started to get broken, individuals began to leave, and the group broke apart. The one thing that causes this break-up is the beast. The beast means different things to everyone, but each boy is afraid of it.       All of this fear starts at one of the very first assemblies when a littlun says that he saw a beastie in the forest. "Now he says it was a beastie" (35). Everyone is already a little afraid of being on the island alone, without any adults, but this makes them even more scared. Ralph, the chosen leader, feels this fear and notices it among the other boys. He tries to reassure the others as well as himself with, "You couldn't have a beastie, a snake-thing, on an island this size. You only get them in big countries, like Africa, or India" (36). He continues trying to ease the fear by ending the conversation of beasties with, "...I tell you there is no beast" (36). In addition, Ralph tries to have an optimistic look on rescue, and talks of fun on the island to help the children stay calm.       Jack and Ralph continue discussing the issue of fear, without the littluns present, to avoid frightening them further. Mostly they discuss how the littluns scream out in their dreams because they are so afraid. Simon joins in on one of their conversations on page 52:       "'As if it wasn't a good island.'      Ast... ...       By the end of the novel, it is not the beast that has driven the boys to savagery; it is their fear of the beast. Most of the boys try to deal with their fear by pushing it away, but it is always in the back of their minds, controlling every move they make. They do not know whether or not there is a beast on the island. They are afraid of the unknown.                Works Cited. Baker, James R. "Why It's No Go." Critical Essays on William Golding. Ed. James R. Baker. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1988. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. London: Faber and Faber, 1958. Hynes, Samuel. "William Golding's Lord of the Flies." Critical Essays on William Golding. Ed. James R. Baker. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1988. Moody, Philippa. Golding: Lord of the Flies, a critical commentary. London: Macmillan, 1964.   Â
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