“‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!

’…The beast was on its knees in the

center, its arms folded over its face.”

The vivid imagery used by Golding in the chant makes things more tense and makes the
imagined beast more apparent. The fact that the author refers to Simon by “the beast” and not his
name shows that it is in the boys’ perspective

“‘Well then—I’ve been all over this island. By myself. If there were a beast I’d have seen it. Be
frightened because you’re like that—but there is no beast in the forest.’”

It’s ironic that Jack says that if you think there’s a beast you’re just frightened because the real
beast is being created by the boys themselves and he’s kind of adding fuel to the fire by saying
this

“‘I don’t know,’ said Simon…‘What I mean is…maybe it’s only us.’”

It kind of shows that Simon is shy because he’s being a bit ambiguous here. He doesn’t explicitly
say that there’s no beast but instead leaves it up for interpretation. It is also apparent that he’s one
of the only sensible ones as he knows the beast is being created within the boys

“As Simon thought this, he turned to the poor broken thing that sat stinking by his side. The
beast was harmless and horrible; and the news must reach the others as soon as possible.”

The author uses an oxymoron here between harmless and horrible. Goes to show that they know
the beast is not going to do anything to them but they’re still afraid of it. The author uses imagery
here as well with “the poor broken thing.” It is also when Simon realizes the beast doesn’t exist
and that it has symbolized the darkness within the boys

“‘He wants to know what you’re going to do about the snake-thing.’”

The fact that it’s being referred to as “snake-thing” shows the uncertainty surrounding it and how
afraid and unsure the boys are

“[The littluns] suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.”

The author makes it apparent that the beast lives in everyone internally as even the littluns are
afraid of the nonexistent beast

“‘I gave you food, and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe?’”

Jack is taking advantage of the fact that everyone is scared of the beast to convince them to join
his tribe. All he wants is power and the beast is a great way to scare the boys into joining

“Even in the rain, [the boys] could see how small a beast it was.”
It’s ironic that the boys can clearly see that the beast is small but are still afraid of it. It shows
how much the boys have magnified this fear inside them when it’s really nonexistent

“‘It’s come!’ gasped Piggy. ‘It’s real!’”

Piggy’s exclamatory response makes the moment very intense as he thinks he has seen the beast.
The author does a good job of showing how afraid Piggy is of the imagined beast

“‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m
part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?’”

The author shows what the beast has really done to the boys on the island. Simon is hallucinating
talking to the Lord of the Flies and the fact that the beast could be “part of you” is scary and
frightens Simon

“‘The thing is—fear can't hurt you any more than a dream. There aren’t any beasts to be afraid of
on this island.’”

Jack says something very rational here as there is really nothing to be afraid of on the island. He
knows there are no beasts and that the beast is being created within the boys. They are really
dreaming and the fear is stemming from the dream that they’re having with the nonexistent beast