Essay Sample on Fear in Lord of the Flies

đź“ŚCategory: Books, Lord of the Flies, William Golding, Writers
đź“ŚWords: 399
đź“ŚPages: 2
đź“ŚPublished: 07 February 2022

Have you ever accidentally hurt someone when feeling emotional? Criminologists are aware that anxiety is one of the biggest causes of riotous crimes, Doctor Scott Bonn wrote, “Strain in one's life leads to negative emotions such as sadness, depression, anxiety or anger. According to GST, when negative emotions take the form of anger, they are most likely to lead to acts of crime, particularly violence”. The story Lord of the Flies by William Golding describes this phenomenon. His book is about a group of boys who are stranded on an island and become uncivilized as they struggle to survive peacefully. One of their biggest struggles is that the younger boys worry that there is a beast on the island, however, this is later proven untrue. The existence of the beast is symbolism for the evil inside of the boys. The evil inside of the boys when assisted by fear is what caused the boys to come to their demise on the island. 

Foremost, the “beast” was to blame for the savagery on the island. The “beast” was the dark side of human nature, which is exactly what the younger boys feared. Simon was the first of the boys to understand this, saying that, “Maybe it's only us that we're afraid of.” The boys were scared of what they were becoming. Without this evil, the boys would’ve lived peacefully until they were able to be rescued, however, due to their human instinct to become cruel in an anarchy, this wasn’t the case. In “Why Boys Become Vicious” William Golding stated, “It would not surprise me if in these conditions, where the orders and patterns of society cease to matter, gangs begin to find cohesion merely in the joint fulfillment of their darkest instincts.” Though this quote was referring to orphans in Russia, it pairs well with his book. The boys lacked structure and adult judgement, so they lost sight of morality. 

What caused the boys’ evil to come out was their fear. They were all put into a situation that was new and dangerous, so they naturally felt uneasy. Though some boys caused additional fear, all of them were scared, so the boys themselves weren’t to blame. Later in “Why Boys Become Vicious”, Golding went on to say “When people are afraid, they discover the violence within them and when they are afraid together they discover that the violence can be almost bottomless.” Fear is a common factor for unintentional violence, especially on younger boys who are easily influenced. The terror the boy’s felt doesn’t justify their actions, but it does explain it.

+
x
Remember! This is just a sample.

You can order a custom paper by our expert writers

Order now
By clicking “Receive Essay”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. We will occasionally send you account related emails.