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Dark Quote by William Golding

“It’s like those nights when I was a kid, lying awake thinking the darkness would go on forever. And I couldn’t go back to sleep because of the dream of the whatever it was in the cellar coming out of the corner. I’d lie in the hot, rumpled bed, hot burning hot, trying to shut myself away and know…” quote by William Golding
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““It’s like those nights when I was a kid, lying awake thinking the darkness would go on forever. And I couldn’t go back to sleep because of the dream of the whatever it was in the cellar coming out of the corner. I’d lie in the hot, rumpled bed, hot burning hot, trying to shut myself away and know that there were three eternities before the dawn. Everything was the night world, the other world where everything but good could happen, the world of ghosts and robbers and horrors, of things harmless in the daytime coming to life, the wardrobe, the picture in the book, the story, coffins, corpses, vampires, and always squeezing, tormenting darkness, smoke thick. And I’d think of anything because if I didn’t go on thinking I’d remember whatever it was in the cellar down there, and my mind would go walking away from my body and go down three stories defenceless, down the dark stair past the tall, haunted clock, through the whining door, down the terrible steps to where the coffin ends were crushed in the walls of the cellar – and I’d be held helpless on the stone floor, trying to run back, run away, climb up----””

William Golding

About This Quote

Source Novel: Lord of the Flies, 1954

The passage evokes childhood night terrors, blending fear of darkness with imagined monsters.

In simple terms: Childhood fear of the unknown.

Key Takeaway

Acknowledge and confront deep‑seated anxieties.

Themes

fear imagination childhood psychology nightmares

Mood

haunting introspective

Type

literary psychological

When to use this quote

  • therapy sessions
  • creative writing
  • nighttime routines
  • parental guidance

Key Concepts

psychological horror symbolism inner darkness

Questions to Reflect On

  • What personal fears surface in darkness?
  • How can storytelling help process terror?
A Different Perspective

It may dramatize fear beyond typical experiences.

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