Theme Of Violence In Lord Of The Flies

Imagine yourself lost in the woods at night all alone as a child. There's no adults or anyone else around that you know of. That monster in the closet that everyone talks about is in the back of your mind and you feel like he's watching you from the darkness, and suddenly a friend, a child like you, comes out of the woods and scares you unintentionally. Your immediate reaction is to run or fight due to fear and you realize that your actions can be unpredictable when you're scared. This was a problem for the boys on the island in the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The author uses a variety of different story elements like mood and symbolism to set the theme that fear leads to violence.

In the beginning of the book, the conflict that grows between Ralph and Jack leads to later violence. Each of the boys are twelve years-old and are looked up to by the younger children, and Jack knows this and takes advantage of it by using fear to gain control. This causes conflict because Ralph and Jack both believe that there should only be one leader on the island, resulting in a jumble of negative moods throughout the story which leads to the next story element.

Jack constantly reminds everyone that there is a beast, causing panic, fear, and even murdering their friend Simon when he attempted to tell them that there wasn't really a beast. During the brutal attack against their friend, the mood was violent followed by yet another horrifying mood when they crushed Piggy with a boulder. These murders eliminate symbols of wisdom and wits which are needed to survive against fear and