Living in Fear of Ourselves
Since the beginning of time fear has made men do things he is not proud of. This is no different in the book Lord of the Flies. The children on the island, particularly Jack’s tribe, have made many poor choices out of fear. This is similar to how fear affects the outcome of certain choices that are made in society today. In Lord of the Flies it clearly shows how fear led to the death of Simon, the death of Piggy, and how fear can lead to savagery and chaos whether on a deserted island or in every day life. For example, fear on the island was what caused the death of Simon.
The boys on the island were full of fear of “The Beast” (Golding 153), which they thought was a parachutist, but is nothing more than their imagination. Due to their fear, they mistook Simon for the beast and ended up throwing their spears at him in the dark, causing his death. Simon showed courage when he went to look for the beast. The boys were getting wild and rowdy doing their rain dance to get rid of the rain because they were afraid of the thunder and lightning. Instead of exploring the island and finding out what they were afraid of , Ralph and Jack were busy trying to decide who would be the leader of the island.
Fear of the beast got the boys scared that he beast was going to come down and kill them, Simon thought other wise. On the island fear of each other caused another death. Fear caused division amongst the boys which led to another death on the island. Ralph, Piggy, and Sam and Eric were going to get Piggy’s specs back. Piggy expressed his concern Rivera 2 about going because he was afraid of Jack. He had reason to be afraid of Jack because he was bigger, stronger and had intimidated him in the past, for instance, he would often tell Piggy to “Shut Up! (Golding 37). Jack was afraid that Ralph would be the leader instead of him. When Ralph and his crew showed up at Castle Rock they noticed that Jack’s tribe had their faces painted black like savages. Jack ordered Roger to get the boulder trap to get rid of Ralph and his crew. Piggy and Ralph put their fear aside and went up to tell Jack that the glasses were Piggy’s. Meanwhile, Roger, out of fear that Jack would hurt him if he didn’t obey his orders, let the boulder trap go. The boulder hits Piggy and he falls off the cliff and dies.
Jack covers up his fear by saying that he had planned it all along. As you can see, fear often leads people to make wrong choices, and unfortunately they are left with the consequences of their actions, or the lack of their actions depending on how they let fear manipulate them. The saying its better to be safe then sorry is a great way to sum up how people let fear control them. Being fearful is not always a bad thing, but when you let it completely take over how you react to every situation it becomes a bad thing.
For example, if your friends are doing something you know is wrong but you’re scared they wont like you if you don’t do it, and you go ahead and do it any way, that is being a coward. People who run from the police because they are scared to go to jail, is a bad decision many people often make out of fear. People in the world often let other people’s fear control them. When at an amusement park, deciding not to go on a ride because a friend is scared, would change the outcome of the trip from having a good time to being bored.
Often in politics people all vote the same way because someone else is telling them to and they are fearful of what people will think of them if they vote against crowd. There are many things people fear, the unknown, finances, love, happiness, death, just to name a few. Knowing when to let go of some of the fear is the important part. Being confident in life Rivera 3 and sticking up for what one believes in helps people become confident and not afraid all the time. Learning the difference between being cautious and being afraid is what will people in society must learn to not live in fear of living.
In Lord of the Flies there are two perfect examples of how fear controlled the minds of the kids which eventually led to the deaths of Simon and Piggy. Fear in the world can cause things to go wrong, because it makes people hate each other and be prejudice. A lot of bad decisions are made out of fear that hurt others. Learning to live without fear is something that people should try to learn to do. In Lord of the Flies, the island would have been a more secure place, if the kids would have been more secure with themselves, and that is the same for the world we live in today.
