Fear

People all deal with fear differently. Some people scream, some people shrivel away and hide and some people cry. Some people push it away and don’t acknowledge it. The same fears are being shown but people all react differently to it. In the novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding there are a few examples of how people react differently to fear. When people are afraid they project their fear in a way that they see is reasonable because it’s their natural impulse.

Medically when people are afraid a part of their brain called the amygdala is activated. This part of the brain controls how humans react to fear. Fear is processed differently than any other emotion. Before fear gets to the amygdala it bypasses the sensory cortex which processes what the things people see, hear, feel, taste, or smell.  LeDoux is a neuroscientist that focused on emotions specifically, fear and anxiety. According to Bigthink,  “To become consciously aware of a particular stimulus takes 250-300 milliseconds, says LeDoux. But a fear-evoking stimulus can reach the amygdala in a mere 12 milliseconds, which is evolutionarily advantageous if one's response time means the difference between life and death.” This quote explains how quickly people process fear and how it is helpful to human life. Fear can become a thing of advantage or disadvantage. If there was no fear, people wouldn’t know when to protect themselves or run away. It has helped make advances to protect people. Fear can also be used to trick people into doing certain things that they unwillingly could have to do. In a place run by a tyrant or a monarchy, when fear is set in place it can scare people into following their leader. If a tyrant threatened to remove someone's family then that one person would be inclined to do whatever the tyrant asked for.

When people are faced with fear they will do one of two things, “fight or flight”. According to a recent article by Verywell Mind, they wrote:“The fight-or-flight response plays a critical role in how we deal with stress and danger in our environment.” Based on this quote it can be seen that the reaction that someone gives to fear can have a big impact on what happens next. This quote relates to the novel in the sense that all these boys are faced with the same fears but they each chose either fight or flight, and each character is different in the way they respond. When Ralph, the main character, hears a noise that sounds like a monster he gets people to arm themselves with spears, so his reaction was to fight. Another character named Piggy was confronted by a scary noise but instead of sticking his ground he ran away scared. These different reactions show how even though all of the boys are going through the same situation, they handle it in different ways which shows who they are underneath.

In the novel “Lord of the Flies” Jack is a major character. He's characterized as having a confident facade when in reality he's equally as scared as the other boys on the island. “ ‘…fear can't hurt you any more than a dream. There aren't any beasts to be afraid of on this island . . . Serve you right if something did get you, you useless lot of cry-babies!’(82-83). ” Jack’s way of dealing with fear is by making others feel bad. Deep down he feels scared but he plays it off by putting others down and acting less afraid than them. This puts him in a position where he feels more powerful and can hide his true fears. Jack also uses his words to play off his anxiety. This quote also shows part of Piggy’s fear of speaking to the other boys, because they talk to him like this and call him names and make him feel bad constantly. Jack doesn’t see how his words are affecting other characters and even though he may be trying to comfort them by telling them not to be afraid, it makes them fearful of him instead of the “beast”.

Piggy is a crucial character to the story who plays the smart, anxious, and self conscious character. Piggy has good ideas, but he does not have the confidence to speak up and tell the other children. Piggy is known as the shy kid and the one people can easily pick on. He is very sensitive about the way people speak to him or about him.  Interactions with these other boys made him very fearful. “ ‘You’re talking too much,’ said Jack Merridew. ‘Shut up, Fatty’ (21).” By jack calling him the slang word of “fat” it demonstrates a clear disrespect to piggy and his feelings. This gives him all the more reason to be fearful of the other children. It shows that jack thinks that Piggy is inferior and picks on him to make himself feel stronger and more incharge.

When people are scared they may show their fear because it is impulsive. Fear applies to everyone in a unique way. By showing the example of Piggy being too scared to speak up this shows one way people show fear differently than others. Everyone's reaction to fear will decide what happens next whether they chose “fight or flight”. Each of the boys in the story has a different fear, showing how everyone has something they’re afraid of and everyone has their own way of dealing with that fear.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Mohney, Gillian. “The Science of Fear: What Happens to Your Body After a Good Scare.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 30 Oct. 2015, abcnews.go.com/Health/science-fear-body-good-scare/story?id=34855202.

“Your Fear Reaction Is Lightning Quick.” Sciencenordic.com, sciencenordic.com/your-fear-reaction-lightning-quick.

Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, www.apa.org/monitor/mar06/fear.aspx.

Adolphs, Ralph. Current Biology : CB, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 21 Jan. 2013, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3595162/.

Cherry, Kendra, and Steven Gans. “How the Fight-or-Flight Response Prepares Your Body to Take Action.” Verywell Mind, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-fight-or-flight-response-2795194.