Fear in Lord of the Flies Essays -- Lord of the Flies William Golding

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 and fight because of the fear. The boys' original fears are of what they think are beasts. "Then people started getting frightened" (Golding, 88). This was spoken by Ralph at an assembly because he knew that things were breaking up and he also knew why. It was the fear. In the novel the Lord of the Flies, fear is the root of the trouble that is caused on the island. The boys' fear turns into fear of each other after only a short time on the island. Many of the boys leave Ralph and join Jack's tribe of hunters because Jack provides them with fun. Jack's tribe goes hunting and has feasts and everyone, even if it is only for a short time, forgets about the beast and ignores it. After a while, though, some of the boys are in Jack's tribe because of their fear, but not their fear of the beast. They stay in Jack's group because they are afraid of Jack and, eventually, Roger. Jack controls them all by showing he is merciless; 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 (176). Jack beats up members of his tribe for no reason at all, except to instill upon them the fear of himself. Soon, everyone is afraid of Roger also. The twins are forced to join Jack's tribe and are terrified of Roger. "You don't know Roger. He's a terror." "-and t... ...ic, see a beast sitting on top of the mountain and Ralph, Jack and Roger confirm what the twins saw, there is complete fear. No one is willing to walk alone or even to go deep into the forests, except for Simon. The boys are terrified and this is when things start to break up. Now, the fear moves on from what they think is the beast to something much more dangerous. Now, they are afraid of each other. At first the island is thought to be a paradise by the boys. It is a dream come true. The boys are living every child's fantasy. Then things start to go horribly wrong. Fear sets in. In this novel, William Golding illustrates that fear is everywhere and can wreak havoc on many things. In this case the boys become afraid of each other and for all of them survival becomes impossible. They eventually they realize that dreams can easily turn into nightmares.