LOTF Response: p. 83-84

[Piggy:] "I don't agree with all Jack said, but with some.  'Course there isn't a beast in the forest.  How could there be?  What would a beast eat?"
"Pig."
"We eat pig."
"Piggy!"
"I got the conch!" said Piggy indignantly.  "Ralph--they ought to shut up, oughtn't they?  You shut up, you littluns!  What I mean is that I don't agree about this here fear.  Of course there isn't nothing to be afraid of in the forest.  Why--I been there myself!  You'll be talking about ghosts and such things next.  We know what goes on and if there's something wrong, there's someone to put it right."
He took off his glasses and blinked at them.  The sun had gone as if the light had been turned off. [...]
"Life," said Piggy expansively, "is scientific, that's what it is.  In a year or two when the war's over they'll be traveling to Mars and back.  I know there isn't no beast--not with claws and all that, I mean--but I know there isn't no fear either."
Piggy paused.
"Unless--"
Ralph moved restlessly. 
"Unless what?"
"Unless we get frightened of people." (83-84)

Above is the passage that I am analyzing.

          As we are almost finished with Lord of the Flies (I can't believe it myself!), now is the time to reflect on what we have learned through Golding's rhetoric so far. This passage above from pages 83-84 of Lord of the Flies holds much code to be deciphered. To start from the top, as the boys argue over the existence of a "beast" on the island, Golding here uses some possible foreshadowing. In lines 2-5, as the Piggy asks the others "What would a beast eat?", someone replies with "Pig", then Piggy responds back with "We eat pig," while someone else shouts "Piggy!" In short, the foreshadowing takes place in that Piggy says that they eat pigs, while someone shouts his name (Piggy) the next line, possibly foreshadowing that Piggy could be "eaten", which we all know too well to be true.
          A different hidden message in this passage refers to Simon's view of the beast as an entity. Going back to the first few lines, when the second speaker responds to Piggy's question with "pig", but Piggy also says that they eat pig, it helps reinforce Simon's idea that the beast could perhaps be humanity itself. Not only these first few significant pieces of dialogue but as well as the last line in this passage: "Unless we get frightened of people." This last statement hints at the idea that perhaps they themselves could become (or already are) beasts. So, the fear comes not only from an imaginary, supernatural creature but also from among themselves.