The fear of the unknown
Alina Liu

The fear of the unknown is rife in Lord of the Flies by William Golding and “The Sufi Tale”. In Lord of the Flies, the “beast” or the “Lord of the Flies” represents the fear of the unknown, while in “Sufi tale” the watermelon is the symbol of fear. The boys in Lord of the Flies react almost the same as the villagers in “Sufi Tale”, they both cower and are afraid of this unknown. The settings of both stories are idyllic, but the fears have ruined the paradise by causing chaos. However the endings of both stories are entirely opposite due to the leaders’ solutions.
Since the settings in both stories are both idyllic, lives should be easy, peace, and happy. “The Sufi Tale” happens in a small quiet agricultural village. Villagers use simple tools and have plenty of trees, fruits, and food. People there have happy lives. Although in Lord of the Flies, the boys’ plane crushed, the island is perfect just like the Eden paradise. The boys do not have to worry about food, because the island is full of fruit trees and small animals that they can hunt such as pigs. Also, the weather of the island is warm, so they do not have a problem about how to keep themselves away from freezing at night. Therefore the island is idyllic, even Ralph said “this is a good island” and “we can have a good time on this island”.
Even though the fears of the unknown are presented in different forms in two stories, the chaos it causes does not change. Fear of the unknown is represented in Lord of the Flies by the “beast”. The kids are scared of the unknown “beast” and they think it is “the snake thing”, “creepers”, “the furry beast with claws, teeth, and wings”, and “the squid”. Yet, the “beast” is actually the Lord of the Flies, the evil within human. Fear in “The Sufi Tale” is represented by the watermelon which no one has ever seen. The farmers and other villagers start to panic and cower from this watermelon. In fact, both fears cause chaos.
The leaders’ ways of dispelling the fears are the most important factor that affects the result of whether chaos can be ended. There is an old saying in China, “While water can carry a boat, it can also overturn it.” Which is similar to both the swordsman in “the Sufi Tale” and Jack in Lord of the Flies. The swordsman comes in and slices the melon in half “killing” it and eats it, while Jack says “if there’s a beast, we’ll kill it.” Both of them are too powerful and ruthless, so they only to be shunned by the community, and have not dispelled the fear. The Farmer and Simon try to explain that the “beast” isn’t really a beast but only the farmer gets to tell his people. Simon gets brutally slaughtered on the beach. The farmer dispelled the fear, also if Simon is still alive, he may be able to end the chaos.
Fear is prevalent in Lord of the Flies and “the Sufi Tale”. The two stories are really analogous to each other. They both have idyllic settings, similar approaches of dispelling the fear, and same forms of fear. If Jack and the swordsman are gentler and listen to others more, will their still be shunned by the community? If Simon is stronger, will he be the leader? Will the ending be different, if the leaders’ in the two stories choose a different approach? Things might be different if the leader choose the different way. And also there are a lot of similiarities between the villagers in the two pieces. In Lord of the flies, the littluns are irresponsible to lamost everything, from builing the shelter to burning down the whole island. In Sufi Tale, the villagers do nothing except creating new fears, just like the littluns in the lord of the flies. When the leader comes up with an approach they will say express their own opinions, and when the ideas require actual efforts the hide away, like building the shelters in lord of the flies and cut the watermelon in the Sufi Tale.