Essay --

Ashley Lotoszynski Darren Pagtakhan Social Justice December 17, 2013 Imaginary Fear Teddy Roosevelt once said that, â€Å"the only thing we have to fear is fear itself†. Fear is a product of the absence of knowledge and thoughts that are blown out of proportion. As humans we are scared of the unknown and what it conceals from us. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of children crash land on an unknown island without adults. As time passes, the kids become uneasy and try to seek comfort in their leaders. When their imagination takes over, the unknown soon ignites their fear and apprehension hinders the juveniles as they attempt to restore order. Since fear is fueled by imagination, the boys’ outward attempt to conquer it only results in violence and chaos. Because we are scared of what we do not know, we believe that the unknown can hurt us. In the beginning, the littluns become scared and speak of a â€Å"beastie†. Piggy asks one of the littluns what he saw and reports that, â€Å"he [the littlun] says he saw the beastie, the snake thing...he says in the morning it turned into them things like ropes in the trees and hung in the branches†(Golding 36). The â€Å"snake thing† is a figment of the littluns’ imagination, causing the children to be more scared which in turn leads them to conjure up more imaginary objects that they believe will hurt them. It is also evident that the boys are scared when Ralph says to Jack that, â€Å"they’re frightened...they dream. You can hear ‘em...They talk and scream...As if it wasn’t a good island† (Golding 52). The boys have nothing to fear on the island however they want to return home where there is danger and war. It is ironic that the boys wan t to leave the island and return home where there ... ...(Golding 181). Jack is a character that instills the fear in the other boys to manipulate them into getting what he wants. By putting the fear into the other boys, they follow him and carry out his evil work leading to violence and chaos. This not only shows that Jack is manipulative, but that he also has a fear of not being a leader and in control. Imagination is the root of fear and leads to destruction and death in the novel. It can make people do irrational things and triggers responses in our security center. In the Lord of the Flies, fear is more dangerous than any beast because the boys are afraid of themselves. Everything that the boys are scared of have an unknown aspect to them. Instead of conquering fear, imagination provokes violence and chaos. The only thing we really have to fear, is fear itself due to its mentally and physically destructive nature.