Townsend 1
Avery Townsend
Ms. Harker
English 10 Honors
26 September 2018
How symbolism affects the theme
The author of Lord of the Flies spent time at war and saw how an idea can change
people? Lord of the Flies is a book about boys who are stranded on an island. The boys become
more and more savage throughout the book. In the Postmodern novel Lord of the Flies, William
Golding uses the symbol of the beast to portray the boys fear of death; and how the fear of death
gives way to terrible ideas.
The beast in lord of the flies is something that is never scene yet the boys are afraid of it.
The boys throughout the first part of the book are relatively unbothered by being stranded. The
first sign of fear ultimately comes from on of the little boys who claims to have seen a beast. “
"Tell us about the snake-thing." "Now he says it was a beastie." ” (William Golding pg ). The
older boys decide that the beast is not real and that they have nothing to worry about. “ "He must
have had a nightmare. Stumbling about among all those creepers.More grave nodding; they knew
about nightmares ” (William Golding pg ). However later in the book the older boys are now
convinced that it’s real and a few of them start to go crazy “ "_Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill
his blood!_"... Simon was crying out ” (William Golding pg ). Fear drove them to act on actions
that common sense would have told them not to do. Death is something no one wants, yet fear is
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powerful and can make you do things you don’t want to do. Jack is a character not everyone
likes but his character development is important to the story.
The fear inside the boys ultimately causes them to make sacrifices that normally wouldn't
take place. In chapter nine the boys become entirely sure that simon is the beast. “ The beast was
on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. ” (William Golding pg ). The hunter
boys began to kill simon with such vengeance that it was scary and would never had been seen in
a sane environme...
