The Influence Of Fear In The Lord Of The Flies

932 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Fear and its effects

Fear is defined as an unpleasant emotion that is caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous. The boys in Lord of the Flies, are thrown on an island with nothing to help them survive. These children run to fear, rather than their peers, to help support each other when dangerous situations arise. Fear is an emotion that humans experience on a daily basis, and it is vital for our survival. It protects people from the danger that confines them, which then leads to how they act or behave in certain situations. Decision making, perception, and the way people are viewed, are all major factors that are heavily dependent on the amount of fear being influenced. Although most decisions are not a matter of life or death, a decision will
When being faced with fear, certain scenarios are viewed differently. The human mind prepares our bodies with the fight or flight response, followed by an adrenaline rush. This then causes us to respond to certain situations in a way we wouldn't if we are in a non-fearful state. At this point in the Lord of the Flies, the beast is a being introduced by the littluns, but Jack explains, ¨[...] fear can't hurt you any more than a dream. There aren't any beasts to be afraid of on this island¨ (Golding 82-83). The boys don´t understand where the littluns are coming from in terms of their fear. They believe it was only a nightmare. It's possible the littluns may not have truly seen the beast, but were rather fooled by their imagination guided by fear. As the boys are chanting, ¨kill the beast, cut its throat, spill the blood, do him in,¨ (Golding 152) they become deeply engaged in this violent chant. Simon approaches, ¨crying out [...] something about a body on the hill,¨ (Golding 152) however, being caught up in all of the excitement, the savage boys don't detect Simon´s voice, and end up killing him. The boys´ abilities to distinguish the difference between Simon and the beast are overridden by the effects fear has on their
In Kenya, fear of the autocratic government system limits the way people can express their political opinions. The dictatorship from 1978-2002 was lead by Daniel arap Moi who ¨ruled the country with an iron fist, and anyone who dared [to] question his authority was arrested, tortured, jailed, or killed¨ (Mwangi). This didn't stop a Kenyan photographer, Boniface Mwangi from risking his life to speak his mind. Fear was dispersed across the country to the point where, ¨being a coward wasn't considered an insult. It was a compliment¨ (Mwangi). The Kenyan citizens were forced to adjust their lifestyles and keep their beliefs confined within them, due to the fear of the government. Moi´s use of physical violence and imprisonment towards the citizens were responses to any negative criticism he received. Likewise, Moi exploitatively used his power out of fear of being viewed in an unpleasant manner by the Kenyan community. Stereotypes of certain people can lead to views that are accepted in the community, although they are not always accurate. Our society occasionally views disabled people as ¨objects of inspiration¨ (Young). Despite the fact that these generalizations are not true, we tend to widely accept these assumptions. Disabled individuals ¨ [...] aren't doing anything out of the ordinary. They are just using their bodies to the best of their capacity¨

Show More
Related

  • Lord Of The Flies: Rejecting Savagery

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    The boys’ fear of the beast causes them to pay no attention to their morals and act savagely to defeat it. However, Simon is ultimately able to understand the beast and avoid savagery because his embrace of nature allows him to avoid any fears of the island. Simon demonstrates this lack of fear when he climbs the mountain by himself in order to find the beast, despite the dangers that might await him. The hunters and even Piggy and Ralph want to avoid the mountain because that is the last place where the beast was seen, but Simon seems to Once he reaches the top, he finds a physical beast, but not the kind the boys were expecting: a dead parachutist. The parachutist serves as an ironic symbol of Simon’s understanding; the monster the boys were afraid was a human. In contrast, Piggy displays immense fear throughout the novel, especially about Jack. For most of the story, his appreciation of logic and order help him remain civilized, but eventually his fears overcome him and he acts savagely the night of Simon’s murder. As Golding states, “[Piggy and Ralph] found themselves eager to take place in this demented but partly secure society….[the crowd] leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore” (136). After this occurrence and the theft of his glasses, Piggy decides to

    Read More

  • Fear in William Golding's Lord of the Flies

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Fear Within the Boys in Lord of the Flies by William Golding

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    “The thing is – fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream” (“William Golding quotes.”). Fear lives to haunt and torment the person to a point of destruction and can be within everyone. Although a person is able to overcome fear, it is still very dangerous because it affects the person as well as everyone and everything around. In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the boys are all so overwhelmed by fear that the island starts to recede into a state damaged beyond repair. In this case, Jack’s fear of not being leader originally starts to affect him, but it gradually starts to affect Ralph, and the rest of the boys. Ralph’s fear of survival brings out his inner savageness and an innocent life is taken away. Lastly, the boys’ fear of the beast causes them to feel so unsafe and uncertain that they are willing to do anything. As a result of the boys being consumed by these fears, it becomes the most destructive force on the island.

    Read More

  • Archetypes In Grendel

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fear has controlled the world and shaped humans into what they are now. New technologies have been created, because of the fear humans have. Over time new fears have evolved, and illnesses occurred due to anxiety and depression from these fears. The terror that runs through each individual is different. Without fear there would be no evolution or protection.

    Read More

  • Fear Prompts Teens To Act Impulsively Analysis

    552 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever had something ever get to you or make you you scared? That is called fear and tons an tons of people have different fears. Fear is an emotion that makes you feel afraid or something is frighten. Some fears many include spiders, clowns and even death. ‘’Fear Prompts Teens To Act Impulsively’’ by Laura Sanders, ‘’Stress for Success’’ by Alison Pearce, and ‘’And Uncomfortable Bed’’ By Guy Maupassant all explain the idea of fear.

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies: Fear of the Unknown

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    On contrary from all the other boys on the island Simon, a Christ like figure in the novel, did not fear the ‘beastie’ or the unknown. “Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us” Simon explained. (p. 97) The fear of the unknown in the novel contributes to the boys’ terror of the beast, the beast is an imaginary figure which lays in all of the boys’ minds and haunts them. Golding uses the beast as a symbol of the evil that exists in every creature. "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are the way they are?" The sow head announced to Simon to be the “lord of the flies”. The “lord of the flies” is a figure of the devil, and brings out all the evil and fear in people. It wants you to fear it, but if you don’t believe in the “lord of the flies” nothing can happen to you. Therefore Simon didn’t fall into the trap, but the beast killed him, meaning the other boys on the island did. Simon discovered that the beast is in fact just a dead parachute man before he died and ran down to tell the boys about his finding. When Sim...

    Read More

  • Fear In Lord Of The Flies

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Savagery Lord Of The Flies Analysis

    1720 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the story, the fear the boys have of the beast becomes incredibly strong. This ends up driving the boys apart, as seen when Jack organizes a feast for the boys to try to get people to join his tribe, separate from Ralph: “‘I gave you food,’ said Jack, ‘and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe?’”(172). Everyone is afraid of the beast at this point, and Jack uses this fear to urge people to join his group of hunters. The fear of the beast in turn because a driving factor of the group tearing apart, leaving Ralph against angry savages by the end of the book. The beast therefore is a cause of the boy’s opening up to their inner savagery. The reason for this is explained when Jack gives the beast a physical being when he puts the head of one of the pigs he killed, and Simon, in an hallucination, hears it speak: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!...You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”(164). The pig’s head, or the Lord of the Flies, is a physical manifestation of the beast in Simon’s hallucination, and it explicitly states it is part of Simon. In other words, the beast is representative of the savagery and evil within humans, not a monster roaming the island. The only fear the boys have had is fear of what is within: their inherent evil. This idea is perpetuated when all the boys go to Jack’s tribe’s feast, and end up doing a pig dance, when an unsuspecting Simon comes stumbling into the area the boys are doing their dance in: “‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!’...The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face… At once the crowd surged after it, poured down

    Read More

  • Synthesis Essay On Fear

    2084 Words  | 5 Pages

    One of the most complex emotions in existence, fear is the primary emotion that triggers any kind of change, as it is capable of linking with any existing emotion to create entirely different lives upon lives. For any change that happens, fear is always present to turn the tide whichever way it pleases.

    Read More

  • The Influence Of Fear In 'Antojo' By Julia Alvarez

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fear influences people to make irrational decisions and take extreme measures. Often times, these actions are done to protect one’s reputation. Fear causes people to lie and manipulate to those they care about in order to escape what they are scared of most. Fear of failure has caused higher levels of anxiety, and has made society put blame on each other, rather than owning up to their mistakes. Fear can also cause one to forget one’s true identity and lose one’s values. There are two options that one can take when being faced with a fear: run away from the fear, or go through it and learn a valuable lesson in the end that will make you a stronger person. Fear is a harmful emotion that everyone has to go through in order to succeed.

    Read More

  • Fear Causes And Behavior In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • Fear In Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    A major theme of the action-adventure story Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is that fear controls humanity more than reason. In most catastrophic situations, many humans make half-witted situations as the fear has been proven to inhibit the actions taken by the victim of the incident. However, in this scenario, the boys in the novel do not have the ability to ‘move on’ from their current crisis; as they have become isolated on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and with no way of telling how long it will be until they are rescued. Golding explores the theme in the novel that fear controls humanity more than reason when Ralph discovers the conch among the bank of the leaves in the first chapter of the novel; then proceeds to

    Read More

  • Destruction Caused by Fear in Lord of the Flies and a Separate Peace

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fear is an everyday emotion that the human race must face, and it can bring out the best and worst of us, but its how we choose to deal with it that truly defines us.

    Read More

  • Fear In Lord Of The Flies Essay

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the early stages in the book, Simon mentions that the beast is perhaps, the boys. When the boys were questioning the beast’s existence, Simon states, “What I mean is...maybe it’s only us.” The boys laugh at his idea, however, Simon’s proposal is indeed correct about the boys and foreshadows the escalation to the loss of civilization, although, Simon doesn’t have the entire puzzle solved. It shows that the evil in human nature can slowly evolve when put in that situation. Simon later understands the root of the boys’ fear and sees the dead pilot, when he encounters the Lord of The Flies, which is his sub consciousness. While Simon was delivering the pig’s head to the beast, “in [his] right temple, a pulse began to beat on the brain.” This is where Simon’s sub consciousness awakens. He starts to have a conversation with “The Lord of the Flies”. The Lord of the Flies starts the conversation by calling him a, “Silly little boy. Just an ignorant, silly little boy” because he thinks that Simon and the boys can’t take on the beast, which is the boy’s untamable savagery. He then warns Simon that he shouldn’t tell the boys because he would be laughed at again (because he’s “batty”) or something bad will happen to him, which foreshadows his death. This conversation symbolizes Simon’s realization about the root of the boy’s fear and the savages they are

    Read More

  • Definition Essay About Fear

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fear is a human emotion everyone dislikes. Fear is in every person with no exception. It can be difficult problem to solve. We can overcome our fears by challenging ourselves by analyzing fear and developing a growth mindset.

    Read More

More about The Influence Of Fear In The Lord Of The Flies

Open Document