Alyssa Hoeft
12/19/14
1st hour
Symbolism in “Lord of the Flies” In “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, there are several different symbols that each have a lot of meaning behind them. Things such as the conch, Piggy’s glasses, and the island the boys are stranded on are all good examples. It may seem hard to figure out what each symbol means, but if you pay close attention, you can better understand it. Some other examples of symbolism could be the littleuns and the painted faces, or masks. These are all important symbols that have different meanings that bring the story together. The conch is one of the first things in the book to show symbolism. It is used to call everyone together for meetings. Some may symbolize this conch as a sign of gathering. While it does show this, it is really showing power and order among them. As you read the book, you begin to see the true importance of the conch. The boys treat the conch as very valuable and important to their new community. They basically guard this with their lives, although some treated it more important than others did. You can see as the story goes on, that without the conch, there is no order and chaos begins. Piggy’s glasses play a very important role in the book. Not only does Piggy need them to see correctly, but they are used to start all of their fires. While these glasses might not have seem that important to some, they are one of the only few things that kept these boys alive. Without these glasses, the boys would have no warmth, no signal for oncoming planes, and nothing to cook the pigs that they catch, meaning no food except fruit. The glasses are also symbolized as intelligence. They help the boys stay alive, and being just metal and lenses, this shows that even the smallest of things can go a long way. The painted faces, or masks, that the boys wear show just how uncivilized they all became with no adults around. These boys are 12 years old, maybe even younger, and they’re showing complete savagery. They don’t fight like normal children would fight. They prepare themselves for killing. Not only are they trying to kill pigs, but they’re also trying to murder each other. For example, Ralph said one thing that the other boys didn’t like, so they came up with an elaborate plan to try and kill him. These boys who were supposed to be proper and have manners were tearing each other apart, literally. When Simon came out of the woods to tell everyone what the monster really was, they clawed him to death with their bare hands. They also kill Piggy with a boulder. The only thing Piggy was doing was walking to them to get his glasses back that they stole. They all lost control and there was no more order in their community; they
