# Reading > General Literature >  Theme of fear in Golding's Lord of the Flies

## Dreamer

Hello everybody,
Here is the introduction I put to a research paper I submitted to my Advanced Writing Professor entitled as _Theme of Fear in Golding's Lord of the Flies._

Tell me if you are interested in the subject so I can continue loading my paper from my PC to in here.


Introduction
"[.] children occasionally run into problems, and sometimes their fears are the root of these problems" (Gebeke, 1994). The boys in Golding's Lord of the Flies are totally indulged in the threat of an unknown fear; this fear causes them to suffer and struggle to feel safe. In this paper, the researcher attempts to shed lights on the theme of fear in this famous novel with focusing on the ways how the children react to that fear. The mentioned theme is covered professionally within the novel in the following main points: the beast as a symbol of fear, characters' attitudes toward fear and the truth about fear.

Waiting hopefully for your initial responses 
best wishes,
Dreamer

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## mono

Hello, Dreamer, welcome to the forum.  :Smile: 
You have chosen a very interesting topic, featuring a brilliant piece of work, William Golding's _Lord Of The Flies_. I entirely agree that a 'theme of fear' engulfs the plot of the novel, especially that all of the characters show such young age - perhaps, while being exposed to such brutal survival methods and means, and developing seemingly rudimentary politics, the series of events may have exacerbated some of the underlying instinct of human nature.
British philosopher, Thomas Hobbes once theorized the three aspects that motivate human actions most (especially associated with instinct): greed, fear, and envy. Whether I agree or not seems to fit in a different forum thread, but his theory, I feel, greatly applies to your hypothesis. At a time when survival comes with much difficulty and diligence, one could easily find Hobbes' three states of mind applicable in any means to the end (survival).
You may also find this thread informative. The forum book club nominated to read _Lord Of The Flies_ months ago:
http://www.online-literature.com/for...ead.php?t=3853

(by the way, I love the signature of Ernest Hemingway - did the quote come from _The Old Man And The Sea_?)

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## ParanoidAndroid

I think that there are different levels of fear in Golding's novel. I think he does this to make the theme of fear as explicit as possible. Of course, there are the children who are in a state of fear, because of suddenly being thrust into new surroundings. 

And halfway through the story, the scope widens. 

At the beginning, the character Piggy mentions that there is a war going on. In the third or fourth chapter, the corpse of a dead paratrooper drops from the sky on to the island. The cause of the paratrooper's death is of course, war. But then again, isn't that the same thing that caused the children to be stranded on the island in the first place? 

And at the end of the novel, the island is scroched as Jack's tribe hunts down Ralph. Finally, Ralph lands at the feet of a naval officer. In this scene, Golding includes in his description of the naval officer; his badges and a gun, which the officer is about to draw. And also, he gives a brief description of the guns on the officer's ship. 

There is a sort of transition her; when the reader thinks that Ralph and the otehr kids have escaped violence and "returned" to civilization, we are shown that "civilization" is actually no better than the savage lives the children were living. 

This brings into question; what is the cause of all these? 

There were two main conflicts unfolding simultaneously in the novel; one was that of Jack's tribe's effort to stake Ralph's head on a stick and another, a global war. Both of these conflicts are rooted in fear. The conflict on the island was rooted in the fear and paranoia caused by the children's inability to adapt to their new surroundings. The global conflict, was caused by the fear and paranoia caused by dsitrust among nations. 

Of course, like the conflict on the island, the gobal conflict might have followed the pattern of evolving from fear, and then having leaders who inject greed into this fear, like Jack did, resulting in conflict. 

Ultimately, the theme of fear is stated by Golding to drive home the point that fear is the root of all conflict.

Oops. I might have gone wrong somewhere. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Unborn chicken voices in my head.

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## Dreamer

Thanks alot for your encouraging response , mono.
I think I chose this novel to make my first research paper on because I admire its themes to the highest degree. Fear is the most important theme focused on in this masterpiece by Golding.
I'm glad that you like my signature , and yes it is from _The Old Man and the Sea_  .. thanks again . I hope that you will follow my coming analysis of the theme and give me your criticism wheather you like it or not . Hope you like it !

Thanks alot for your ritch responce , ParanoidAndroid.
Your previous analysis is realy very nice ! your idea about the novel seems to be better than mine , I think I got to most of the points that you mentioned within the paper . I hope you will continue following the subject and keep providing me with your responses. Best wishes.



The novel
William Golding wrote this novel to prove that the common thought about the children innocence is wrong, that is if a group of boys were released from the civilized community and the control of their parents over them, they would lose their civilized social behavior and revert to savagery. In fact this speech by Lall shows the main message Golding wants to convey to his readership through his novel. (Lall, 1999).
A short skillful summary is presented by Breem (1999), who points out that Lord of the Flies is the story of a group of boys of different backgrounds who are the victims of a plane crash happened during the Second World War while transferring them from one area to another; this accident causes them to fall on an unknown desert island. As the boys try to form a plan to get rescued, several kinds of horror appear. Then, the boys separate into two groups: one represents the democratic community under the leadership of Ralph, and the other is a group of savage hunters under the leadership of Jack Merridew. Finally, when the boys reach the stage of manhunt they almost totally shake off the civilization of the world they once knew. This leads the reader to realize the severe decay of law and loss of civilization when the adults are absent.
The beast as a symbol of fear
 From the very beginning, Golding promotes fear within the boys' community through the idea of the beast or "beastie" as the children call it. It is very clear, however, that the boys are confused about the nature of this beast whether it is from the sea, the air or the wood. They keep wondering, suspecting, shivering of fear while being unable to determine a fixed vision to this frightful thing which threatens their security on such an Eden-like island. In this matter, Breem (1999) states that after little time from the boys' landing on the island, different kinds of fear start growing up. This helps forming a source of disturbance within the boys' community there, beginning with the fear of snakelike things that move in the wood at night reaching the top of fear by thinking of the unknown which is the beast.
Breem (1999) illustrates also that the climax of fear is achieved when Sam and Eric confirm that they saw the beast on the top of the mountain. In fact, the twins, Sam and Eric, see a dead parachutist who is a victim of a battle fought above the island, but when they see it in the darkness which is connected in their minds with the beast, they think of it as a horrible beast which has teeth and claws. Reaching this stage, the boys begin to think of hunting the beast, but they fail doing it. After that, the hunters hunt a big sow, cut its head off and place it on a stake as a gift to the beast.
Hunting the beast is not a simple idea which usually comes to children minds directly when thinking of such an imaginative, fearful creature which may attack, harm or even kill them. Usually, children become scared when thinking of such frightful matters. However, the boys in Lord of the Flies think virtually of hunting this thing. Personally, this decision reflects the volume of scare enrooted inside them to the extent that they decide to attack it before it attacks them. 
When the boys fail hunting this beast, they setup another way to avoid its harm i.e. satisfying it by offering it a satanic present, which may help keeping them safe from this deadly danger. Gebeke (1994) states that school-age children realize that they can cope with fears and work through it. The researcher thinks that this seems to be true and applied in Lord of the Flies through the gift the boys offer to the beast in order to satisfy it and feel safe and away from its harm even for a short period of time. Moreover, the method used by the boys to practice this adaptation with fear ,that is killing a mother sow, cutting its head and fixing it on a stick in the wood as a gift to the beast, is very primitive; it looks like a totemic ritual, but it is the way they expressed their inner feelings of fear and suffering from this unknown danger "the beast".
According to Stein et al (1998), the boys' fear of the beast is a result of their fear of the unknown. They cannot accept the idea of the beast existing on the island they live in, while they cannot give up this fearful idea at the same time. Therefore, the relationship between the beast and fear seems to be correlative that is each notion leads to the other inevitably. Truly, this is supported by Piggy's statement in the assembly held by the boys trying to find a solution to the matter; he says, "I know there isn't no beast  not with claws and all that, I mean  but I know there isn't no fear, either" (Golding, 1954:76).

To Be Continued ..... 
waiting for your responses.

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## Analia

Hi! I read Lord of flies...I like it, i think Golding wrote about how humans can have a relative inocence but in an extreeme situation it can change to wildness.I think he explained that wickedness and human conditions are unseparate. I want to show u something written by Ernesto S&#225;bato, It was writed in spanish, i made the traduction sorry if u find some mistakes.
It says:
"Golding understand the efects of the actions from man to other people, as in his Lord of Flies , a literature's classic , where he lives open a tremendous quetion: the cruelty, the selfishness, indiferece, and the zeal of destruction. Are caused due estructure of the society where man is living or is a demonstration of the natural inclination to wickness of the human race?"

Thanks!
bye!

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## Jolly McJollyso

> Hello everybody,
> Here is the introduction I put to a research paper I submitted to my Advanced Writing Professor entitled as _Theme of Fear in Golding's Lord of the Flies._
> 
> Tell me if you are interested in the subject so I can continue loading my paper from my PC to in here.
> 
> 
> Introduction
> "[….] children occasionally run into problems, and sometimes their fears are the root of these problems" (Gebeke, 1994). The boys in Golding's Lord of the Flies are totally indulged in the threat of an unknown fear; this fear causes them to suffer and struggle to feel safe. In this paper, the researcher attempts to shed lights on the theme of fear in this famous novel with focusing on the ways how the children react to that fear. The mentioned theme is covered professionally within the novel in the following main points: the beast as a symbol of fear, characters' attitudes toward fear and the truth about fear.
> 
> ...


Your Advanced Writing professor is going to eat your face if you open with a quote.

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## andrea1

I had to write an in class essay and borrowed a couple ideas for my thesis. thanks

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## Drkshadow03

> "[.] children occasionally run into problems, and sometimes their fears are the root of these problems" (Gebeke, 1994). The boys in Golding's Lord of the Flies are totally indulged in the threat of an unknown fear; this fear causes them to suffer and struggle to feel safe. In this paper, the researcher attempts to shed lights on the theme of fear in this famous novel with focusing on the ways how the children react to that fear. The mentioned theme is covered professionally within the novel in the following main points: the beast as a symbol of fear, characters' attitudes toward fear and the truth about fear.


The idea is fine, but I think the wording is a little akward. I hope you don't mind if I do some edits.




> The boys in Golding's Lord of the Flies are totally indulged in the threat of an unknown fear


"Totally" makes you sound like a valley girl. "indulged" doesn't make sense as a verb. 

"submerged" might replace "indulged." You might replace it with "beset". Maybe "plagued." 




> this fear causes them to suffer and struggle to feel safe.


What are they struggling with? Fear? What kind of fear? Fear of what exactly? The more concrete you are the better the paper you will write.




> In this paper, the researcher attempts to shed lights on the theme of fear in this famous novel with focusing on the ways how the children react to that fear.


I would drop "researcher." If you have to refer to yourself use "I". (i.e. In this paper, I will attempt shed light on . . . )

It should be "light" not the plural "lights."

The whole paragraph is redundant. You tell us you will shed light on the theme of fear by talking about how the children react to fear. I suggest trying to be more specific. What exactly about fear will your paper focus on?




> The mentioned theme is covered professionally within the novel in the following main points: the beast as a symbol of fear, characters' attitudes toward fear and the truth about fear


This is a stronger paragraph than the last. If you look at the last three points after the ":" you'll see that you're being much more specific. 

Your opening telegraph in this sentence is awkward. You don't need "the mentioned theme" bit. Referring to the novel as "professional" makes me feel like you're trying to sell me the book for some reason.

Better perhaps to write (there isn't any of that teleprompting/praise): 

"Fear takes three main forms within the novel: the beast as a symbol of fear, characters' attitudes toward fear and the truth about fear."

You could also still be more specific. What truth about fear do the kids learn? How exactly does the beast symbolize fear? What are the characters' attitudes towards fear?

I realize this might be what you talk about in the body of your paper, but there is no reason you cannot telegraph or give a one line specific conclusion for all these points. 

After reading all that I know you want to write about fear and that you think the novel is about fear, but not specifically what this novel has to say about fear (it's all very general). That last part is the key. What do you think this novel has specifically to say about the nature of fear? What does it originally say about fear that no other book does? Don't just say that you're going to write about fear, but tell me what you learned about fear from this novel. Describe that in a sentence or two of your introduction in a more objective researchy sort of way, and then you'll have a solid thesis statement. 

Hope you find those comments useful in revising your paper.

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