Beads of perspiration, pumping blood, and muscles tensing as every hair stand on edge. These are instinctual behaviors, subconscious reactions to an alarming disturbance in the environment. Fleeing comes to mind but is dismissed by the off chance of an encounter with the ‘unknown.’ After all, there may be something lurking in the shadows. This is fear in its most natural state; the gut retching mystery of the unknown that consumes all rationale. Fear exposes the most primal human reaction; a trait depicted in the boys of Lord of the Flies, where an ingrained reaction to self-preservation overcomes wit, reasoning, and conscious forethought and illustrates the darkest characteristics in man.
In the beginning of Lord of the Flies, the boys were intrigued by the island and were having a marvelous time without any restraints. The first sense of alarm came from a littlun who conjured up a ‘beastie’
Soon, fear devoured all rational thoughts and left the boys with sheer paranoia. This anxiety planted a seed of evil, with thorns of suspicion that pricked the tensions between boys. This became apparent in the heat of the bonfire dancing, where all the boys gathered to dance and chant around the freshly slayed pig. When one boy came tumbling out of the jungle, the blood-soaked mob lost themselves in a savage-like dance as they engulfed the approaching ‘creature.’ Waylaying any hesitation, an innocent boy was thrashed, stabbed and left to die in the lapsing tides of the beach. The justification for their deed was, “it was dark. There was that bloody dance. There was lightning and thunder and rain. We was scared!” (156). With that simplistic logic, all responsibility was absolved and murder was an ignored fact. Being scared, a derivative of fear, consumed their morals until they ruled by self-
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