In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the youngest children, affectionately called “littluns” show the key characteristics of post traumatic stress disorder. In combination with the trauma they lived through; the boys experienced symptoms of PTSD, which include, nightmares, difficulty sleeping and extreme tension. They were at a higher risk for developing the disease. These factors all lead to the conclusion that the boys may have developed post traumatic stress disorder.
Post traumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition triggered by a traumatic event. Post traumatic stress disorder develops after a terrifying event that involves physical harm or the threat of. The sufferer who develops PTSD may have been the one who was harmed, or may have witnessed the harm of a loved one or stranger. “[M]ugging, rape, torture, being kidnapped or held captive, [and] child abuse” can lead to the development of PTSD; as well as “car accidents, train wrecks, plane crashes, and bombings”. The traumas that cause PTSD are not always due to mankind; natural disasters such as “floods” and “earthquakes” can lead to PTSD. “Lord of the Flies” takes place in world war, which world war is not specified, but the “atom bomb”(Golding 14) is mention, which sets the stage for world war II. The trauma of the world war they are…show more content… Not everyone who lives through a dangerous event gets PTSD, some people have these risk factors, which make a person more likely to get PTSD. The boys lived through several horrific traumas. A lot of the boys were also hurt throughout their stay on the island, as well as the fact that they saw people they had become friends with being hurt and killed. Their fear realized it's self in in the form of the “beastie” (Golding 51) as a way to deal with their emotions and fear of the unknown thanks to the lack of social support they have received since arriving on the