In the blink of an eye, everything can change. For the young schoolboys in the novel Lord of the Flies life changed for the worse leaving the boys stranded on an island. After a deadly plane crash, the pilot was killed along with nearly half the boys. After the crash, the schoolboys were exposed to not only unknown surroundings, but to an unknown world with no adults. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he effectively uses the person vs. person conflict to illustrate the idea that the fear of the unknown can be a powerful force that can turn people to either focusing on what is important or losing their moral compass. He illustrates this through the use of symbols, such as; the Beast.
The first sign of fear caused by the unknown occurs
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right after the plane crashes and Ralph is exploring the island. While he’s exploring he meets Piggy, they then begin to discuss who is still alive on the island. Ralph exclaims “No grownups!” (8). His excitement illustrates how young children are usually never away from their parents for long periods of time. This suggests that he believes living on the island guarantees all fun and games, but the boys are bound to become scared from their new independent lifestyles. The next situation illustrating fear happens when Ralph, Jack and Simon go on an exploration through the thick forest of the island. The boys stumble upon tracks and they question if they came from an animal or a man. Jack quickly changes the subject and announces, “This is real exploring, I bet nobody’s been here before” (27). From Jack’s sudden conversation change it is acknowledged that he understands the boys are scared of the unfamiliar tracks. He also claims that the island has never been explored before and is completely unknown to everyone- including the boys. The fear from the unknown caused the boys to act violently and break the rules.
After, the news of the possibility of a beast on the island, Ralph calls an assembly. During the assembly, Jack speaks without holding the conch, he starts a tirade against Ralph and Piggy. Jack argues “Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong—we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat—!” (91). Furthermore, this statement explains how once the boys are all spooked out because of the beast, they lose what used to be most important to them-the rules. Ralph even adds “Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got” (91). This clarifies that the rules were once really important to the boys but now the boys would rather act inhumane, than do what is morally right. Another act of violence occurred when the hunters let the fire go out, while they killed a pig. Piggy and Ralph were arguing with Jack and the hunters about killing a pig instead of doing their duty of keeping the fire lit. Suddenly, Jack became irritated “He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach. Piggy sat down with a grunt” (71). Jack hitting Piggy proves that violence was caused by the boys not knowing how to handle all these new responsibilities. Most likely at home, Jack would have expressed his anger in a different way but on the island, he avoided the righteous way of dealing with violence. All in all, Jack hit Piggy and seriously hurt him. Normally
society would work together to increase their survival chance, instead of hurting each other. As shown in the paragraph above fear causes people to work against each other. In life there is a beast within us all, an unknown power that forces society apart. After the assembly about the beast, Jack starts his own tribe with other boys and hunters, excluding Piggy, Ralph, Sam and Eric. He addresses the boys “We’ll hunt. I’m going to be chief” (133). This quote proves that the boys begin to have strong feelings of enmity which leads them to have split into separate coalitions, even though sticking together proves to be safer. Before, Ralph wanted Jack to make fire his main priority, as it would save them. But now that Jack has his own tribe, they follow his commands because the boys feel that hunting will keep them safe. Next, Piggy and Ralph wander over to Jack’s tribe to collect Piggy’s glasses. The two tribes begin to get into a fight and purposefully Rodger kills Piggy and smashes the conch. Jack screams, “See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I mean that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone - ” (181). The conch always symbolized peace and order, with it being broken it shows how all order on the island has been wrecked. Also, how the boys have become inhumane and nobody except Ralph feels the grief of Piggy’s death. In the novel Lord of the Flies, it is illustrated that when people have a fear of the unknown it causes irrational behavior. Unless society starts to use their fright for good, the world will become a violent and evil place. Fear is only temporary and should be used fear as fuel for greatness.
In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, and Kendra Cherry’s article, “The Milgram Obedience Experiment”, the comparable fear factor, and naive mindset of individuals put under dire circumstances leads to the corruption of society and rise of evil in humans. Fear factors are an influential resource, and useful tactic leaders use to instil dominant power in their citizens, if this power is abused, evil and chaos occurs. For example, in Lord of the Flies, when Samneric get captured by Jack, Jack terrorizes them, snapping, “What d’you mean coming here with spears? What d’you mean by not joining my tribe?” the twins try to escape but fear takes over their morals and they, “...lay looking up in quiet terror” (Golding 182). As Jack threatens
Fear resides within all of our souls and our minds in different forms wether it be mind, body, or spirit. Fear can be brought upon by actions, words or ever our mere imagination. Of course as one being younger your imagination can bring along fear that is non existent but, to one it may seem so vivid and tangible. In this Novel by William Golding we come to grasps with many different forms of fear being from the beast, the loss of humanity, and the fear of realization.
They often obey his destructive orders just to avoid being punished. Jack tells Ralph, after Roger kills Piggy, “ ‘See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone—’ -He ran forward, stooping- ‘I’m chief!’ ” (Golding 181) Jack threatens Ralph and the boys by reminding them of the consequences of not succumbing to his authority. They are physically and emotionally tormented, forced to participate in Jack’s violent acts. As time goes by, they willingly join in on Jack’s brutal endeavors, such as hunting Ralph down in an attempt to sacrifice him to the beast. He
Importance of Leadership Leadership is something that stands out in people. In a group, people tend to look for the strongest person to follow. However, the strongest person may not be the best choice to follow. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph and Jack each have leadership qualities. Jack is probably the stronger of the two; however, Ralph is a better leader.
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.
Adversity builds character, but it also tests it. With adversity, survival is often challenged; it is man’s responsibility to remain committed to civilization. In the novel the Lord of the Flies, a group of boys are deserted on an island following a plane crash. During times of despair, civility and morality can easily be lost because savagery exists in all people. In the Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses symbols that change to emphasize the deteriorating society and breakdown of humanity. Symbols that show the changes to society and humanity include the signal fire, the conch, and Piggy’s specs. Fire can either be used as vital resource for as a means of destruction.
Fear is a driving force in The Lord of the Flies. How does fear in all of its forms influence the boy's attitudes and behaviours?
In addition, Jack treated Piggy with extreme cruelty. Jack's brutal behavior toward Piggy exposed his evil side. This could be why he wanted to kill him, as they began arguing since they had first met. Jack also felt a desire for power; Piggy would never grant him this supremacy, which led to violence either physically or verbally. After Jack let the fire go out, Piggy reprimanded him leading to frustration in Jack; “This from Piggy, and the wails of agreement from some of the hunters, drove Jack to violence. The bolting look came into his blue eyes. He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach ” Jack could have hit anyone else but struck Piggy, showing his deep hatred for him. All Jack needed was the opportunity to kill Piggy, and he would have taken it just like when he punched him in the stomach.
Imagine flying on a plane and crash landing on an unknown island with a select group of people. How would humans deal as a result of this horrific situation? Is cruelty and violence the only solution when it comes down to it? In Lord of the Flies, William Golding explores the relationship between children in a similar conflict and shows how savagery takes over civilization. Lord of the Flies proves to show that the natural human instincts of cruelty and savagery will take over instead of logic and reasoning. William shows how Jack, the perpetrator in the book, uses cruelty and fear for social and political gain to ultimately take over, while on the other hand shows how Ralph falters and loses power without using cruelty and fear. In Lord of
The survival instinct in the book was survival of the fittest they must do anything they can do to survive. They all elected a leader, which was Ralph and they use the conch shell to make orders when they need to and the conch symbolizes government and power, piggy and Ralph respect the conch. "We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything" (Golding, 42). This quote mean that having rules are necessary in order to survive on this island. Without rules they would be uncivilized and the boy will face their evil side and just be rebellious. Ralph was focused on building huts and surviving until they get rescued. Piggy is beside Ralph to keep him focused on getting rescued so he doesn’t start putting his focus on the beast. Piggy orders thing on the island everyone has a job to do. Piggy’s glasses tell us something about him, according to Dana Linde “piggy’s glasses represent intelligence and the sense of safety for piggy.” (Linde 5/3/16) Jack on the other hand, he wanted power over the boys and he did not care about survival and wanted to just have fun on the island. Every one plans for survival and being rescued fails and they just start to turn on each other it all leads to murder. This is the human survival in lord of the
Anthony Borrero Feminella Language Arts I 30 January 2017 Fear of the Unknown What would happen if boys from a civilized society were suddenly thrown together on an island with no adults? The novel "Lord of the Flies" is written by William Golding shortly after the end of World War II. The novel is about a group of English boys who are stranded on an island during the period of war.
Since the beginning of humanity, fear has driven peoples’ actions. Fear, the natural response to danger, has saved people from hurting themselves and others. Without this natural instinct humans would be extinct. However, fear can take a person away from the path they wish to go. If left alone, fear can take over a person instead of saving them, making the thing they fear most, themself. In Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Golding’s Lord of the Flies, fear is a driving force of the narrative. Despite differences in the use of characterization, conflict and imagery, both authors develop the theme that fear controls a person, leading them away from their ideals and principles.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” said FDR, but too often people fail to realize that and costs them dearly. Fear is a trait of all living creatures and is what H.P Lovecraft calls the oldest and strongest emotion and due to the nature of the world and the amount of unknowns around us influences all of our actions and thoughts. These influences of fear are shown throughout The Lord of the Flies a novel by William Golding and published in 1954 during the Cold war, a time where fear was rampant throughout the world due to the enormity of so many WMDs. However in the lord of the flies, a group of british schoolboys stranded on an island, without any rescue in sight are left to fend for themselves, and ends up as a reflection on
In Lord of the Flies Ralph asks, “ What makes things break up the way they do?”
Stranded on an island are a group of school kids who do horrible, savage things and it is all caused by, fear. In the book Lord Of The Flies an evacuation plane full of school kids and some adults crash no adults survive so the kid are stuck on an island with no adults. The fear an imaginary beast and the fear causes them to do savage things on the island. One of the savage things that happened because of fear was when they killed simon because they feared he was the beast. Fear is often used as a reason for why the kids are doing some of the things that they are doing. He also uses savegary as a motive for some of the violent behavior that they exhibited.