An analysis of fear - Messele Asfaw

Fear is a key theme that shows up throughout all of human history. Some might even argue that it’s one of the fundamental aspects of human behaviour that control how people think. The topic of fear has been talked about, suggested, and even debated about many times. A lot of the times it has been brought up, it is because fear has had ties to violence in one way or another and because the humanity of it is being discussed. Such an example can be shown with the occurrence of the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials were a series of unfair prosecutions and eventual hangings of innocent lives. This is because people were scared of the fact that they could be witches. The development of mass hysteria is not to be expected however because it is human nature to fear what cannot be understood. As Andrew Smith once said, “People fear what they don't understand and hate what they can't conquer.” A lot of this quote is also proven in the book Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. The book follows a group of English boys, aged 6-12, who get stranded on a deserted Island. The group must then make decisions to ensure their survival. The theme of fear often shows up in Golding’s writing and he makes it a point to include it in their choices. Fear is an emotion which leads people to make rash decisions, and to ignore rational thinking.

    While the fact that there are no adults around is scary enough to these children, surprisingly, the idea of a beast scares them even more. While two of the boys were attending to the fire, which they hoped would get the attention of a ship, the two boys encounter what they think is a beast. The two boys, named Sam and Eric, get hurt trying to get away from this so called beast. The rest of the boys come to confront them about, and then have a discussion regarding the next best course of action. “ “Frightened?” “Course I’m frightened. Who wouldn’t be(100)?”... “Stay here? And be cramped into this bit of the island always on the lookout? … “What about the littleuns?” “Sucks to the littleuns(101).” . Jack allows for Ralph to openly admit that he is scared. But by proving that Jack was not scared, he makes way for the rest of the group go to him for leadership. This is because when humans are faced against something they cannot comprehend, they fear it. This fear turns to anger, and this anger needs to be let out somehow. The way that the boys let this anger out is that they decide to hunt the beast. This isn’t all however. The fear of the beast is greater than the need to protect their young. At this point in time, fear overpowers every other emotion and allows them to make the reckless decision to put all their effort into hunting a beast that doesn’t exist, rather than look for a way to get help.

The Salem Witch Trials are another example of this. The Salem Witch Trials took place in 1692, and basically, people went around accusing others of witchcraft. Of course, the accusations were false but mass hysteria was at play here so it didn’t really matter. Mass hysteria is described as the phenomenon that transmits collective illusions of threats, whether real or imaginary(in this case imaginary), through a population in society as a result of rumors and fear. One of the wrongfully accused had something to say about this while awaiting trial in prison. "The Magistrates, Ministers, Jewries, and all the People in general, being so much inraged and incensed against us by the Delusion of the Devil, which we can term no other, by reason we know in our own Consciences, we are all Innocent Persons." This man, John Procter, understands that everyone around him is a victim to mass hysteria. He understands this and he accepts this, yet he can’t do anything about it. This type of fear that was produced by these so called “witches” yet again overpowered the need to have rational thinking. It led people to make a decision void of rational thinking.

As the story progresses, we see the intensity of the fear the boys display change too. What once was just a story made up by one of the littleuns, is now a terrifying truth to them. This change in intensity can also correlate to the intensity to the distance they have grown apart from society (which could be a reason they are being scared this much). When the boys are sitting listening to the surrounding environment for the beast, it is described as so, “They lay there listening, at first with doubt but then with terror to the description the twins breathed at them with bouts of extreme silence. Soon the darkness was full of claws, full of the unknown and menace(99).” This buildup of fear causes more tension between the group of boys and leads to many more bad decisions. In the beginning of the book, they would normally just play this off as nonsense. But as they continuously get more and more savage, and they continuously get more and more hostile, their attitudes toward everything requires them to feel in control.

Fear is a very important emotion. Arguably, the most important emotion. The addition of fear to any number of factors when making a decision, greatly affects the outcome, as seen with the examples stated above. Previously, the quote from Andrew Smith, “People fear what they don’t understand…” is very applicable to the scenarios described above. In fact, it describes them perfectly. The concept of fear has been important throughout the book, throughout the birth of rational decision making, and throughout the history of humans in general, but it is this very same concept that allows people to make decisions that do not seem smart.

Works Cited

"Salem Witch Trials." Salem Witch Trials. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <http://fearparanoiaintheunitedstates.weebly.com/salem-witch-trials.html>.

"Salem Witch Trials." Salem Witch Trials. A&E Television Networks, 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. <http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials>.