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Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a story of the devolution of a group of boys stranded on a tropical island which offers many insights into human nature and loss of innocence. Golding continuously employs nature in manners that either instill or intensify fear in the characters by creating an atmosphere of unease. The outdoor setting achieves this atmosphere by foreshadowing, demonstrating how nature works against man, and showing how it parallels man’s emotional states, thereby causing panic among the boys.

Golding’s use of foreshadowing in nature is the cause of much tension and agitation, both for the reader and among the boys. Parallels to paradise are evident and lead several characters to increasingly fear their situation. To describe the island, Ralph makes reference to an Eden-like setting in stating, “Here at last was the imagined but never fully realized place leaping into real life” (Golding 14). Initially the island seems perfect, which creates some trepidation among the more perceptive characters (Ralph, Simon, and Piggy) as they realize the ramifications they might incur should they ruin their paradise and ultimately be cast out of it, like Adam and Eve were from Eden. Nature is also compared to war at many times throughout the novel, foretelling the fearsome brutality to come. Nature is linked to war when it is stated that, “High up among the bulging clouds thunder went off like a gun” (126). While the boys are clearly frightened by the approaching storm, the use of such violent language is also deeply significant in contributing to their panic. The boys are trapped on the island after escaping the war-plagued England, and yet they are now being subjected to an aggressive environment which can only make them recall the intense terror that they faced in their home country. Ralph’s fear of Jack’s final forest fire is the partial product of foreshadowing. Describing the accidental forest fire of their first days on the island,...