Anxiety, panic, terror, and paranoia are what someone can feel when lost in the middle of nowhere with no help. "Lord of the Flies" is a novel that tells the story of a group of young boys who face this situation following a plane crash. Stranded there, they establish rules and an organizational system to be effective. As they experience these emotions, they become more aware of their surroundings, and we can see that their concerns and terror become increasingly apparent as the book progresses. Each of the boys exhibits "agoraphobia," a term that refers to a fear of places or situations that may cause panic, helplessness, or embarrassment, which manifests itself in different ways throughout different characters. In this novel, "Lord of the …show more content…
Golding never confirmed the presence of the beast, which is an important aspect for him since it allows the reader to feel a part of the adventure of the beast; the only time they were "close to the beast" is when they mistake it for the pilot. The rest of the story is based on the boys' imaginations and anxieties. The beast is an important symbol that represents the boys' primal instincts, their fears, as well as the savagery and evil that everyone has in them. Therefore, the beast is considered a metaphor for their savage and violent behavior, since there is no one to educate them and tell them what is right or wrong. We can consider the beast as a means of exploring the root of evil in the novel. Their fear of the beast caused them to turn on one another and shift the blame away from themselves, such as the disappearance of the littlun with the birthmark, killing Simon as they mistake him for the beast, and the attack that Jack and his tribe put toward Ralph. Golding believed that everyone has a tendency for violence and destruction that could be triggered when the rules of a society are removed. For example, when one of the young boys, Percival Wemys Madison, forgets his name and home address. “Percival Wemys Madison sought in his head for an incantation that had faded celan away.” (Chapter 12 page 201) Golding illustrates the boys' loss of identity due to their focus on survival rather …show more content…
At the start of the book, the boys are well-behaved and working together, but as the fear of the beast grows stronger, they become more violent and cruel. To illustrate this, we will use the example of the relationship between Jack and Ralph: The beast is what leads to a breakdown between Jack and Ralph, as the boys are terrified of it. Two groups are formed, one for Ralph, who will provide shelter and fire to get saved, and one for Jack, who will provide food and protection. At the start of the group, the two boys were friends and worked together to put everyone in order and assign roles to everyone, but as soon as Ralph became leader instead of Jack, he started feeling jealous, which led to tension between the two. Jack uses the fear of the beast as an excuse to manipulate some members of the group with food and safety in order to name himself the leader. With the fear of the beast growing, Jack starts to become more obsessed with hunting and more animalistic, trying to dominate and have power over everyone else. “I ought to be chief...because I'm chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.” (Chapter 1, page 22); in this quotation, Jack affirms that he is meant to be a leader. These following quotations show how Jack starts to act more and more like an animal: “sniffs the air”; “Then dog-like, uncomfortable on all fours yet unheeding his discomfort” (page 48); “He was down like a
Could it possibly just be the fears that the individual boys have? Or is it the darkness in each of their hearts? Therefore, in Lord of The Flies, is the beast just fear? Do the boys just imagine their worst fears because they are scared? Think about it, little boys stranded on an island with no one there to comfort them, for their nightmares are coming to life.
A beast can take on many forms in the eyes of different people, from the darkness under a child’s bed, to the inner demons within each person Author William Golding uses this concept to display different themes in his novel, Lord of the Flies. The character of the “beast” evolves throughout the story to represent intriguing and abstract subjects as the plot progresses. In The Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding, the “beast” is initially the boys’ fear, then a representation of war, and ultimately the savagery of human nature. Initially, the “beast” was introduced as a figment of the boys’ imagination, brought about by fear. It was at the first assembly, in which a littlun asked about, “the snake-thing” (Doc B).
The littluns believe there is a beast and it is causing fear throughout them. Ralph as the leader could also see that the fear of the beast was causing terror and disagreement amongst the group of littluns and the older kids. “We’ve got to talk about this fear and decide there’s nothing in it.” (pg.
To begin with, in the beginning, the “beast” resembled fear. According to (document a) the author wrote, “Now there are no comforting mothers to dispel the terrors of the unknown. They externalize these fears into the figure of a “beast.” Also, in (document b), it states, “He was dreaming…. He must have had a nightmare.
“We saw-” “-the beast-”. In the Lord of the Flies by William Golding, there were a group of English Schoolboys. They roamed around on a deserted island, a war was going on in the near future. There are many possible things a “beast” can be. The definition of a “beast” evolves throughout the story.
The boys need fend for themselves and they all had to figure out how to survive. Eventually all of the boys soon turned into savages and went against one another by hurting the others. There are two main characters who took charge right away due to no supervision: Jack and Ralph. Jack was mainly in charge of hunting, and Ralph was in charge of shelters. Each of the boys are in competition for chief, which leads to lack of authority.
As Jack becomes more restless on the island, it is evident that savagery becomes satisfying for him. Almost like he needs to kill to breathe, like this was the missing piece of his life that he can now satisfyingly appeal to. “His mind was covered with memories…knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.” (Golding, 74). Jack denies the ideas of the beast similarly to Piggy.
Through use of motifs and symbols, as well as a few specific scenes, Golding shows how much fear can change a person. When the amount of fear inside of one single person or a group reaches a very high point, it can drive them to do anything, no matter what kind of person they are. The fear of the boys drives them to try to survive and cling to civilization as long as they can. Their fear helps keep the fire going to make smoke, their signal.
The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill. The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (152) demonstrates that the fear of the beast controlled the boys, and influenced them to kill Simon.
The more they obsess over the beast, the less caring they act towards one another. While they appear to not be as afraid as they were before, Ralph, Simon, and Piggy’s source of fear now comes from the other boys rather than the
He explains how it is a hunter and how it came from the sea, but was disproved and how it has wings and claws and swings in the vines at night. That causes nightmares, stress, and anxiety on a lot of the kids, so Jack promises fun to all of those who leaves Ralph’s group and joins his. Everyone is frightened by the beast and frightened about whether they will die on the island or be rescued, which is a lot of stress for little kids. Jack tells them to forget about the beast for a moment and to let loose, or to have fun, with hunting or doing other things rather than trying to survive and be exhausted trying to get rescued by the grown ups, if there are still any left. The groups represent civilization and savagery during this great divide of the main group which will cause future conflict.
The beast in Lord of the Flies at the beginning of the story is fear. In document A Claire Rosenfield says “they externalize these fears into a figure of a beast.” The children on the island create a beast that they base on their fear from everything that has happened so far and what could happen. The children make the beast to show how scared they actually are and what they're afraid of because they aren't where they normally
Jack’s arrogant and spiteful attitude with the rest was very well known in the beginning. Jack’s touch with civilization has diminished as time went on and he turned into a wild savage, with an “animal-like” personality. “‘I ought to be chief,’ said Jack with simple arrogance, ‘because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.’ …
In this instance Jack tells the boys that he somehow has control over the beast. This shows how Jack uses the beast to draw the children towards him as the leader of the group. He always desires to rule over the boys and the beast is his scapegoat to do
Although the other boys laugh off Simon’s suggestion, Simon’s words are central to Golding’s philosophy of anti-transcendentalism, that innate human darkness exists. Simon is the first character in the novel to see “mankind’s essential illness” which in turn, shows the beast not as an external force but as a component of human nature. Simons deep understanding of the beast is further expressed in his hallucination or his “discussion” with the lord of the flies that he has after one of his fainting spells, “There isn't anyone to help you. Only me. And I'm the Beast...