In The Lord of the Flies, the beast goes through many transformations throughout the book, and has literal and symbolic meanings that further describe it. When the boy with the birth mark on his face first sees the beast, he claims that he, “[saw] a snake-thing […] in the dark” (31). The reality of the beast to the boy is that of a snake or vine, but it really just represents his fears, and how they take control of what he thinks is real and what isn’t. After jack comes back from a day’s hunting, he describes being alone as, “a feeling [that you’re] being hunted, as if something is behind you all the time in the jungle” (47). Jack claims that the thing watching him is a hunter or predator, but it actually just symbolizes
In The Lord of the Flies, the beast goes through many transformations throughout the book, and has literal and symbolic meanings that further describe it. When the boy with the birth mark on his face first sees the beast, he claims that he, “[saw] a snake-thing […] in the dark” (31). The reality of the beast to the boy is that of a snake or vine, but it really just represents his fears, and how they take control of what he thinks is real and what isn’t. After jack comes back from a day’s hunting, he describes being alone as, “a feeling [that you’re] being hunted, as if something is behind you all the time in the jungle” (47). Jack claims that the thing watching him is a hunter or predator, but it actually just symbolizes