Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of boys crash landed on a deserted island with no adults. They must face conflicts with each other, the island, and themselves to survive. In chapter 9, Jack and his tribe had a feast, and invited all the other boys. During the feast, a storm rolled in, and they became animalistic while eating, chanting, and dancing around the fire.
When Simon comes down from the mountain to the boys that the beast is just a dead body, the boys are too enraged by the thrill of reacting the hunt that they turn on Simon and end up killing him. Piggy tries to come up with a reasonable reason of why they killed Simon while Ralph states that was murder. Simon’s foreshadowing is proven when Jack and his hunters attack Ralph tribe camp and steal the fire and Piggy specs. ”You’re a beast and a swine and a bloody, bloody thief.” (177).
In the novel Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, it shows that the essence of man is evil and unacceptable. A group of boys get stranded on an island where they make the most of their situation, and ultimately turn on each other. One of the boys, named Jack, proves Golding’s point that the essence of man is terrible by behaving and acting like a savage. He and Ralph frequently intervene and try to assert dominance to become the leader of their tribe. Jack shows the essence of man is corrupt by his loss of innocence, his behavior like a dictator, and his uncivilized acts.
In chapter 5 of “Lord of the Flies” (Doc. F) He makes a brief comment on the “beast”. “Maybe there is a beast… What I mean is… Maybe it’s only us.”
Simon, being one of the wiset boys, said, “Maybe there is a beast... maybe it’s only us…” (Chapter 5, page 80). Some boys believe that there is a wild beast roaming about and others think that it is nonsense. The boys are beginning to split up and divide themselves over the thought of a silly creature when in reality, they should be packing together.
Paragraph Essay In this scene of Golding’s Lord of the Flies, we see Simon finally giving in to the madness that has rooted itself deep on the island, and deep inside of everyone; the island is merely an outlet for these boys to to let out the evil inside of them. Simon had inner demons like everyone else, but it seems only logical that in real life, Simon was hallucinating the pig head speaking to him. Simon was hungry, dehydrated, exhausted, and just escaped a hunt with the most violent of the group, not wanting to kill the pig. There are certain inconsistencies such as, “He knew one of his times was coming on.”
After jack had full control over the boys he killed Simon, allowed piggy to be killed, hunted Ralph and burn down the island. All of those actions prove that if given the chance humans will behave in a flawed
Spill his blood,” (Golding 152). The “steady pulse” of the circle they created gathered around Simon, and they all took turns “[striking], bit[ing], and [tearing]” at him, not even realizing that the “beast” they thought they were killing was one of their own, and the literal beast they were looking for was living inside them, driving them to do horrible things (Golding 153). Jack leads this murder. He influences the boys to hurt their friend, all because he is too wrapped up in hunting the nonexistent
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s portrayal of the stranded boys’ bloodlust shows a childhood filled with tribulation and terror. Golding showcases his belief that all men contain wicked desires when the boys abandon their attempts of democracy on the island. Their time spent on the island reveals that even childhood innocence turns dark without society enforcing justice. Simon’s hallucination with the pig’s head creates a physical representation of the evil that took over the stranded boys. The pig tells Simon, “fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!
The beast that they all fear symbolizes the primal instinct for savagery, the darkest and most horrible part of man. “However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick”(Golding 103). Simon is the only character to see the beast for what it truly it, a part of man. It is because of this that he is able to see the damage it could cause when given the power and opportunity, as it so often is throughout the novel. His death is further proof of this and shows that when civilization disappears, chaos, violence, and savagery lie in its wake.
After pondering how best to rule as a leader, legendary philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli considered that “People will be less likely to conspire against someone they fear than someone they love.” As a result he determined that it is “much safer to be feared than loved”. Throughout the course of time history has proven this to be true time and time again. From the ancient egyptians to dictators like Joseph Stalin, ruthless dictators have proven that fear is an excellent way to maintain control of a large group of people. This principle is shown in William Golding's Lord of the flies, when a large group of british boys is stranded on an island.
Maturity is subjective. Maturity has no definition, since everyone views maturity in different ways. Some view maturity as putting other's dire needs before one’s minor needs. Some say maturity is a coming of age, where one finds one’s morals, or what one believe to be right and wrong. One of the most common definitions for maturity is the ability to adapt to the environment one is given.