McLaughlin
KatieAnn McLaughlin
Mr. Labush
English II Honors
21 November 2018
Fear as a Motivator In Lord of the Flies
Human behavior is motivated by different emotions. These emotions can cause people to treat others a certain way. Fear can cause people to be cautious of unfamiliar surroundings and act out. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the boys on the island let fear motivate them to become savage and immoral. People allow fear to control them.
Fear of the unknown can motivate people to act rashly. People are afraid of the unknown because they do not know the consequences of the situation. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the older kids are afraid of the beast that one of the little kids sees, but they do not want to admit that they are afraid. They try to hide it. Jack yells at one of the younger kids for causing them to be afraid.
You littluns started all this, with the fear talk. Beasts! Where from? Of course we're frightened sometimes but we put up with being frightened. Only Ralph says you scream in the night. What does that mean but nightmares? Anyway, you don't hunt or build or help--you're a lot of cry-babies and sissies. That's what. And as for the fear--you'll have to put up with that like the rest of us. (Golding 82)
All the boys are scared, but the older kids are too embarrassed to show their fear. The little kids have nightmares and cry due to being afraid, but Jack says that they have to move on and start working. They do not know if there is a real beast, and although they have not checked the forest, they are afraid of what could be there. They do not know the consequences of the beast, so they take their concern on each other. Their fear of the unknown caused them to act irrationally, rather than understand each other.
People who do not know what will come out of a situation are wary of the circumstances. The unknown induces fear. “Psychology research suggests we generally like to be able to anticipate consequences. That’s why the act of falling can be so frightening; we don’t know what to expect when we land” (Hoffman). People want to know what to expect in a situation. The fear of the unknown leads people to act rashly to try to protect themselves. They want to try to get rid of their fear or blame it on someone else, which is what Jack did in the Lord of the Flies. The boys do not know what to expect from the forest, so they act out to try to hide their feelings. They are afraid of the beast that could be in the forest and they are afraid of what is going to happen to them on the island. However, they want to impress each other and act brave, so they yell at each other for causing the concern they feel, instead of helping each other through it.
Fear impacts human behavior. People can be so scared of something, that it prohibits them from moving forward. In Lord of the Flies, Samneric believed Ralph should be the leader even when most of the boys switched to Jack’s side. They stuck with him until they...
