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The use of symbolism in the book Lord of the Flies
A term paper on symbolism in Lord of the Flies
A term paper on symbolism in Lord of the Flies
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“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 …show more content…
the cold war. In this book. Golding says that in the lord of the flies, human nature is deeply affected by fear, making people react in a hasty and ill informed manner and making them easy to control and is shown throughout the book and history. Throughout the beginning of the book, after the plane has crashed and the dust settled and leaders elected, Fear is being used.
Ralph after being elected leader, and having Jack be the head of hunters, laid down his agenda: get rescued, build shelter, and hunt in that order. Even with Jack’s cooperation motivating a group of kids to work together unsupervised without any rules will be difficult. Here, fear is used when Ralph talks about the fire and their chances of survival without it. “We may stay here till we die.” With any group of people, in most situations those words would strike them with fear. Those words on inflicted on a group of middle schoolers and younger children can motivate them with ease and had a fire burning strong enough to cook a child relatively quickly. Here at the end of chapter two, fear making them respond in a way that made them kill one of their own so quickly reaffirms what the author stated and how fear manipulates …show more content…
them. A society of young children has limitations, particularly in logic and explanations for what is around them and like many societies often turn to an entity which they use to explain the unknown.
On this island, the beast is the entity which they house all their unknowns. At first the beats took the form of vines, like a snake and from then evolving into various things. After a corpse of a soldier parachutes down at night, which gives the beast a physical form and causes massive turmoil. This form is seen by the leaders, Jack and Ralph who now believe in it. However Jack does not wait to politicize this moment for his own gain using fear to accomplish what he couldn't have in the start.“Quiet!” shouted Jack. “You, listen. The beast is sitting up there, whatever it is—”!! " " ! " “Perhaps it’s waiting—” “Hunting—” “Yes, hunting.” Describing the beast, making it look dangerous while at the same making ralph look weak by calling him coward, implying that Jack the hunter is a better protector than Ralph the coward. This slowly chips away the trust in Ralph’s leadership, resulting in children siding with Jack who at the time does not have fire or shelter. Jack used fear to manipulate the children to join him proving the point that under the influence of fear, people make hasty and poor decisions under poor
circumstances Finally, the last example of fear being used to manipulate people is after Jack forms a separate camp at castle rock. Some kids may have wavering thoughts about Jack as leader. This is stomped out in ways described from the book. “He’s going to beat Wilfred.” “What for?” Robert shook his head doubtfully. “I don’t know. He didn’t say. He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up. He’s been”—he giggled excitedly— “he’s been tied for hours, waiting—” “But didn’t the chief say why?” “I never heard him.” This exchange between Samneric and Ralph shows how twisted Jack has become, beating up a young Wilfred just to show dominance and his absolute power by using fear, forcing much of their loyalty. Especially Samneric who liked Ralph more, proving people under the pressure of fear, do things they normally wouldn't making the author’s point in the book accurate. Although some may say, no matter how the fiction is, it is still fiction. More often than not good fiction has basis in reality. There are many examples of fear being used control people day to day. From Hitler, being the force in which made allies of the USSR and the United States of America, to Saddam Hussein allegedly using chemical weapons on his people to terrorizing members of his baathist party, and to current day presidential nominee, utilizing fear of muslims and hispanic and mexican people to fuel his campaign . These and so many other instances of fear plague this world; college, insurance, and jails use fear of a better, safer and fairer life. In conclusion, Golding is correct in that human nature is deeply affected by fear, making people react in a hasty and ill informed manner and making them easy to control .
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
A group of kids got stuck on an island after their plane got shot down and they all have many different personalities. Being stuck on an island usually brings out the worst of people.But, there were two characters in novel, “The Lord of The Flies” that had good morals. These two characters were Ralph and Simon. Ralph and Simon weren’t intimidated by not having any adults around, instead, they tried to bring out the best of themselves and not take part in any horseplay the rest of the boys did.
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.
Human's fears should not be taken lightly. Fear could do anything to one's minds, though without fear, man can be as savage as animals. In the book Lord of the Flies, William Golding presented fear of the unknown to be a powerful force in a man's mind. Fear of the unknown is a powerful force, which can turn to either insight or hysteria. The kids feared of not being rescued off of the island, so they made signal fires on top of the mountain. Then, there and gone, Roger's fear of the old rules he abided to. Also, there were the fears of the beast which confused and isolated the kids from the top of the mountain.
Fear is something me can’t control, it is naturally in us which cause humans to act on their instinct. The beast in the Lord of the Flies by William Golding is represented by fear from the very beginning when the boys first ended up on the island until they were saved by the naval officer. Putting a group of English boys on an island when the last thing they can remember is enjoying their flight on the plane, would instantly cause a sense of unplanned fear. Other concepts like war and innate human evil are based of and caused by fear itself. War begins when two opposing forces fear one another’s power. For example, the constant power struggle between Ralph and Jack because of their fear of each other and what the other was capable of. Innate human evil is the natural evil inside of every human, fear can control your want to oppose to a certain person or idea. The beast in the Lord of the Flies is fear because fear is the cause and drive of the boys basic struggle for survival.
Fear in Lord of the Flies In the novel The Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, fear. is the cause of all of the problems that take place on the island. At First, the island is thought to be splendid and a paradise, but as the boys' stay on the island increases, so, too, do their fears. The boys soon become afraid of each other and soon after that the boys break up.
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.
One of many prominent themes in William Golding's novel, the Lord of the Flies, is Fear. From the very first chapter, until the last, fear plays an important role in this text. It is the only thing, which stops the boys from acting rationally at times, from questioning curious circumstances and it physically hindered so many of the boys, so many times. The active role of fear in Lord of the Flies, was intentionally used by Golding, because he knew what images it would create. Fear is described by Mirriam- Webster's English dictionary, as To be uneasy or apprehensive'. This feeling is mutually experienced by all of the boys on the island in many different ways. Initially the boys have an obvious fear of being alone, which then brings upon the fear of what we know as the beast, or as the littluns refer to is, as the beastie'. While this fear continues for the whole of the novel, we are also exposed to three other incidents of fear. The first of these is the civilised fear of consequences, displayed only when the children are seen as young civilised boys, in the earliest chapters. The final two are of a different nature, with those fears being the loss of power, the fear of rejection and the fear of being in the minority. All of these different fears, then relate back to the character, and as was expertly planned out by William Golding, influences the characters attitudes and behaviours.
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.
As former members of society and civilization, the surviving boys attempt to replicate the social values taught to them. Ralph is elected the leader of the group to the dismay of Jack, the leader of a boy’s choir, who becomes jealous of Ralph 's power. At first, everything seems well; shelters are made, the little ones are fed, and the optimism for escape is held high. However, as time goes on, the fear of the unknown begins to catch up to the survivors, and the thoughts of rescue are replaced with savagery and the thirst for hunting. Ralph and his intellectual but physically unfit assistant, Piggy, have to stand their ground in order to prevent Jack, his “hunters”, and the fear of the mysterious “beast” from collapsing the foundation of society and civilization that the survivors had worked so hard to
Jack only cares about hunting and having fun. Hunting and having fun are two human instincts that everyone has. This attracts many boys to his tribe, but after a short period of time, the boys descend into savagery because they do not have the social stability that Ralph creates at his tribe. Ralph often grows impatient with Jack because all Jack cares about is hunting. Jack becomes so focused on killing a pig that it is all he can talk about. Ralph and Jack are having a conversation about building shelters when Jack completely misinterprets what Ralph is saying and thinks he is talking about killing a pig. Ralph says to Jack, “‘I was talking about smoke! Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig, pig, pig!’ ‘But we want meat!’” This quote clearly deciphers that Jack cannot even focus on a simple
In Lord of the Flies, Golding proves that fear draws out man’s inner evil and barbarism. Within the novel, Golding uses characterization of the boys and symbolism of the beast to show the gradual change from their initial civility to savagery and inhumanity. Learned civility, order and humanity become ultimately futile in the face of fear. The author teaches that without logic, fear consumes endlessly. He shows that fear clouds the mind, thus making it absolutely imperative to maintain reason and logic throughout life. Fear will always end in a fate worse than death for those who survive it.
In most cases, fear can greatly alter how people act and therefore can shape lives for the better and for the worst. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a plane crashes on an island leaving the remaining boys all alone without any adults. This leaves them overwhelmed and afraid as they have never been in this situation previously, but also puts other fears that the boys may have suffered through prior to this experiences into action. This fearfulness that the whole group has, whether it be for their survival or because of personal issues, alters their views and thoughts so greatly as it therefore led to the inhumane killing of Simon. Simon death was overall a result of the fear of the unknown, Jack fearfulness of not being the
* Jack did not have the integrity to keep the Beast at bay. It slowly crept into him and later took full control once he put on the painted mask. He is the perpetrator of the two deaths that occur on the island and wishes to spend his time hunting (killing) instead of helping Ralph with being rescued.
“There is nothing to fear but fear itself” (Roosevelt). “Fear is a chain reaction in the brain that starts with a stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals that cause a racing heart, fast breathing and energized muscles, among other things, also known as the fight-or-flight response” (Layton). Fear affects the brain and can help people or make them in a worse situation than they were in the first place. Fear most motivates/influences people during times of crisis by clouding judgement and becoming a weapon of power.