Fear In Lord Of The Flies

In William Golding’s Lord of the flies, Golding uses the boys' fear of “the beast” to show their belief that evil comes from outside forces, rather than from themselves. The beast first takes form in their imaginations as a sort of snake-type animal; later, they consider that the beast rises from the sea or is possibly a ghost. When they see the dead pilot that crashed on the mountain, the boys believe that they have proof of the beast existing. In truth, however,the beast does not really exist in the form the boys imagine.
Golding wanted to show the darker side of humans, and make the point that all humans have this dark side. The boys perceive their collective dark sides as a beast, in some form of animal or possibly something supernatural. Yet the whole time, the boys become the beast when they act on their animal impulses, for there is no external beast. …show more content…
Simon's revelation about the beast occurs after he sees the pig's death and beheading. As an outside observer instead of an active participant, Simon can comprehend how brutal the act is. When Simon hallucinates that the pig’s head on a stick is speaking to him, his perception of the other boys as the island's true threat is confirmed. The Lord of the Flies confirms that "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they