Lord of the Flies - 'The Darkness of Man's Heart' Jennifer Liu 10th Grade

Lord of the Flies delves into the subject of ‘the darkness of man’s heart’. It explores the primitivism and savagery that comes with the human nature through the various characters and language choices. William Golding uses the concept of ‘fear of the unknown’ to show how it creates apprehension amongst the boys which leads to their chaotic behaviour. He explores the result of the absence of authority and order within a society. Golding also uses the boy’s conception of the ‘beastie’ as a symbol of the ‘beast’ within us.

The theme of ‘fear of the unknown’ runs throughout the book and is represented through the boys' fear of the beast and the island. Fear first starts to appear at nightfall, when the younger boys have appearances of monstrous creatures in their dreams. The boys start wondering if they were in fact not alone on the island and start doubting their safety. “Ralph’s right of course. There isn’t a snake-thing. But if there was a snake we’d hunt and kill it. We’re going to hunt pigs to get meat for everybody. And we’ll look for the snake too.” (p 48) In this quote, Jack’s repetition of the...