Lord_of_the_Flies_Evil_and_Fear

Dormant Evil and Hidden Fear In all humans lies a beast which is to say a dormant evil, and a hidden fear. This is evident in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Furthermore in this novel a group of young boys end up on a deserted island with no adults, they think that there is a beast within the island but all the older boys think it is nonsense. The “littluns,” which are the younger boys on the island, fear a Beast and its claims. The older boys soon start believing in the existence of the so called beast. The reader soon realizes that the beast is the existence inside the boys. In other words William Golding uses The Beast in his novel to portray the fear and evil inside the boys. Golding uses evil to display The Beast in his novel Lord of the Flies. Specifically in his novel he uses evil to display the beast through animal cruelty because one of the older boys, Robert kills a mother pig with piglets, not only does he kill the pig, he sticks a spear right up her ass. It is illustrated when it says, “Robert stabilizes the thing in a phrase which is received uproariously, Right up her ass!” (p149). Clearly this quote displays The Beast as evil because the boys no longer care about eating meat for survival; it has now become a game for them. They no longer care for survival because all the piglets would have ran away and died. In addition Golding uses The Beast to illustrate evil through murder because in his novel the boys kill and eat an innocent boy named Simon. This is seen when it says, “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! The blue star was constant, the noise was endurable. Simon was crying something about a dead man on a hill. Kill The Beast! Cut his throat! Do him in! The sticks fell and the mouth of a new circle crunched, and folded over its face. It was crying out an abominable noise, something about a body on a hill. The Beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water.” (p168). This is considered evil because they murder an innocent boy; they are too overwhelmed by The Beast that they kill Simon. The Beast has taken over the boys which forces them to kill Simon. Beyond that Golding shows evil by violence when Jack spears Ralph’s ribs and tares off his skin. For instance it says, “Viscously with full intention, he hurled his spear at Ralph. The point tor off his skin and flesh over his ribs, then sheared into the water.” (p201). Truly this quote demonstrates The Beast inside Jack because he stabs Ralph with a spear, Jack shows evil by intentionally stabbing him. Finally Golding shows evil inside the beast when roger throws stones at the littlun, Henry. This is seen when, “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed it than threw it at Henry, threw it to miss.” (p64). Basically this quote states that The Beast took control of Roger and made him commit evil, and throw stones at the littluns. When Roger throws stones at Henry, it relates to Piggy’s death because he goes from stones and not harming to a boulder and killing. To conclude, The Beast is shown through evil many times in Golding’s novel. Golding uses The Beast throughout the novel to illustrate fear inside the boys. To begin with Golding uses the beast to display fear when the two littluns, Sam and Eric find a dead parachutist and get frightened. For example “Neither of the boys screamed but their arms tightened and their mouths grew peaked. Then as though they had but one terrified mind between them, they scrambled away over the rocks and fled.”(P106-107). Truly this quote states fear because Sam and Eric are feared by The Beast that they think the parachutist is The Beast. They think this dead parachutist is The Beast, and they are so scared that they can’t even move or think. In addition Golding uses The Beast to demonstrate fear when the kids yell and scream about the beast in their dreams all night. In other words it says, “I mean the way things are. They talk and they scream. The littluns, even some of the others.” (p52). This shows that the littluns are so frightened by the beast that they scream in their sleep and have nightmares. Also Golding uses the beast to display evil when the littluns are so overwhelmed by The Beast so they are almost scared of everything on the island now. This is seen when it says, “He came to the smashed acres of fruit and ate greedily. He saw too littluns and not having any idea of his appearance, wondered why they screamed and ran.” (p205). Basically the kids are so overwhelmed by The Beast that they see something moving and they get scared of it. This is considered fear because the kids are so scared of the beast that they now think that everything is The Beast. Finally Golding uses the beast to display fear because they are so frightened of The Beast that they start giving it offerings. For example it says, “This head is for The Beast, it’s a gift. The silence accepted the gift and awed them. The head remained there dim-eyed, grinning faintly, blood blackening between teeth. All at once they were running away, as fast as they could, through the forest towards the beach.” (p151). Clearly this quote states fear because they are so feared by The Beast that they give it offerings so it won’t harm them. This is considered fear because they would do anything so the beast stays away from them. In simpler terms the beast is shown through fear in Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies. Golding uses The Beast in his novel to portray the fear and evil inside the boys. In other words Evil is used as the beast through murder when they kill Simon. He also shows evil through cruelty when Simon kills the mother pig. Murder happens throughout the novel, the kids are so evil that end up killing people. They also show cruelty because they hunt pigs for a game and not for survival. Golding uses fear though nightmares because the all the littluns dream about the beast. The Beast creates so much fear in the boys that they give it offerings and everything they see they get scared. In summary, there is a beast in that exists in all humans which could refer to as a dark evil and a hidden fear.