Fear in Lord of the Flies by William GoldingHuman fears should not be taken lightly. Fear can do anything to the mind, but without fear man can be as wild as animals. In the book Lord of the Flies, William Golding presented fear of the unknown as a powerful force in a man's mind. Fear of the unknown is a powerful force, which can turn into intuition or hysteria. The children feared they would not be rescued off the island, so they lit signal fires at the top of the mountain. Then, Roger's fear of the old rules he followed disappeared. Additionally, there were fears of the beast that confused and isolated the children from the mountaintop. The children's fear of not being rescued from the island led the group to the top of the mountain to light signal fires. They used Piggy's glasses to light that fire: Jack pointed suddenly. "His glasses... use them as burning glasses!" Piggy was surrounded before he could retreat. "Here, let me go!" His voice rose... Jack tore his glasses off his faceRalph moved the lenses back and forth... Almost immediately a thin stream of smoke rose gently... (Golding, 40-41). Piggy, who represented the clear conscience or brilliance in humanity had no respect or say many things about the island from others. Piggy thought it was a bad idea and indeed it was: Smoke rose here and there among the vines... Little flames crept away through the leaves and bushes, splitting and growing... Acres of black and yellow smoke rolled steadily towards the sea (Golding, 44). This fire destroyed much of the island, thus limiting their survival to meat and fruit. The same disaster happened again when Jack and the hunters hunted Ralph: "Now the fire was nearer; those volleys of shots were large branches, even trunks, bursting. The fools! The fools! The fire must be almost near to the fruit trees: what might they eat tomorrow" (Golding, 198). They went so far as to burn the entire forest to flush out Ralph. The event, if not for the ships that had noticed the fire and saved them, was far from positive, the hunters did not think about what would happen after they burned the forest and killed Ralph. Of course Ralph wasn't even a threat to them; Jack feared that Ralph's presence could be disastrous for his control.