Essay On Symbolism In Lord Of The Flies

Submitted By Sarragin32
Words: 921
Pages: 4
Open Document
Lord of the Flies In the book Lord of the Flies, there are many different symbols that represent many different things. And everyone interprets them differently. What one person thinks could mean something, someone else could take it a totally different way than that person did. So I’m going to be writing about the three symbols that stood out to me most, and what they mean to me. And the first of the most important symbols, in my opinion, in Lord of the Flies is the object which gave the book its name, the pig's head. The author’s description of the animal's head on a spear is very gory and disgusting. The pig's head is described as with dim eyes, grinning faintly, and “blood dribbling down the stick," " (William Golding, Lord of the Flies, New York, Putnam Publishing Group, 1954, p. 137, 138). When the pig is described it gives the audience a detailed and disturbing image to make the reader understand that this pig will become the source of evil or darkness. Which I think that a lot of people see the so called “beast” is the symbol of darkness, but to me it is the pigs head, or “the lord of the flies”. Even though the conversation between the pig and Simon is entirely Simon’s imagination, he learns that beast isn’t what any of the boys thought it was. In fact, the pigs head says to Simon, "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill!” and it went on to say to Simon, “You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?" (p. 143). So what the pigs head is “saying” to Simon is that the so called “evil” that everyone thinks is the beast, is just inside of them. The beast is their minds.
The “evil” that’s in the boys has more effect on them as they spend more time on the island, away from the rest of the world.
The next big symbol to me is Piggy’s glasses. Throughout the book, Piggy, to me, would represent’s the civilization of the world and the rules that everyone should follow. At the beginning of the book Piggy could see clearly because he still has both of the lenses in his glasses. But as time goes on Piggy loses one of his lenses for his glasses, causing him to not be able to see clearly. This to me is representing that the longer that they are all away from the rest of civilization, the harder it is for them to see where they wanted to be going and what they are supposed to be doing. For example, at their first meeting, they decide that they "can't have everybody talking at once" and "have to have hands up like at school" (p. 33). However, after some time passes, the hunters become more worried about killing a pig than with being rescued. After the hunters get back from their first successful hunt saying "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood,"(p. 69). Ralph and Piggy try to tell the hunters that having meat for meals isn’t as important as keeping the signal fire burning. Then even later in the book Jack and his group of boys decide to ambush Ralphs group so they can steal Piggy’s glasses, which then causes Piggy to lose practically all of his sight. Meaning that the boys have lost all of their sight on what they had decided to do at the beginning of the book, and have started down a
Show More

Related Documents: Essay On Symbolism In Lord Of The Flies

Lord Of The Flies

Lord of the Flies Major: Ralph- Ralph is the protagonist of the novel. He is the leader of the group. Responsible- Ralph is responsible for the failures of the group since he is chosen to be the leader. He tries his best on everything that could be done in order to get rescued from the island. Brave- Ralph is brave because he is willing to go on to the mountaintop even though he is scared. He also helps Piggy to get back his glasses and fight gainst the hunters by himself. Jack- Jack is Ralph's…

Words 2392 - Pages 10

Lord Of The Flies

A running theme in Lord of the Flies is that man is savage at heart, always ultimately reverting back to an evil and primitive nature. The cycle of man's rise to power, or righteousness, and his inevitable fall from grace is an important point that book proves again and again, often comparing man with characters from the Bible to give a more vivid picture of his descent. Lord Of The Flies symbolizes this fall in different manners, ranging from the illustration of the mentality of actual primitive…

Words 374 - Pages 2

Lord Of The Flies

Ruba Osman Mr. Jackson ENG3U November 6th 2014 Knowing one’s evil: William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” Since human conscience began, civilization has been built on law and figures of power. Structured society relies on rules with humans naturally conditioned by their own restrictions, contrasting an unsuccessful barbaric, savage or primitive way of life. With the loss of restraint, there would be no stopping humans descent into madness—with a lack of punishment and order, there is a lack of justice…

Words 1399 - Pages 6

Lord Of The Flies

The boys from “Lord Of the Flies” were stuck on an island and had to help themselves and each other, as there was no adult with them to lay down rules. By being by themselves someone had to set rules but these rules helped at the start when they were co-operating as it progresses the boys become wild and do whatever they want. At the start Piggy found the conch and this helped them to keep their assembly’s, also whoever had hold of the conch had the power to talk. These boys had lots of discipline…

Words 788 - Pages 4

Lord Of The Flies

How does Golding portray his ideas in the Lord of the flies? Golding portrays the disagreement between the two boys from the start of the book, during the time when they dispute between who should become the leader, which creates a small anecdote of the smaller world that we have today in society. The beginning of chapter 3 starts with Golding hinting to us that the boys are starting to become less civilised, and becoming more savage, as for Jack, “eyes in this frustration seemed bolting and nearly…

Words 754 - Pages 4

Lord Of The Flies

Lord of the Flies: Setting: Lord of the Flies takes place on an uninhabited island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, the exact date and time is unknown the reader but it is in the near future, during an atomic war going on elsewhere in the world. The scenery of the island is only extended to the reader when the boy’s knowledge of the island increases. The characters have crashed landed into the jungle of the island. We start off only following Ralph, the protagonist of the story. Ralph finds a…

Words 2040 - Pages 9

Lord Of The Flies

Lord of the Flies In Lord of the Flies the boys are stripped of the boundaries that civilization and society bring and savagery takes over while the evil inside each boy is unleashed. Through the deaths of Piggy and Simon, it becomes obvious that there is no more intellect and morality on the island, and savagery has become more prominent and stronger than civilization. In Simon’s death we see that the boys were so focused on hunting, and killing is second nature to them as they murder Simon thinking…

Words 942 - Pages 4

Lord Of The Flies

In the novel The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the boys turn from well behaved British schoolboys into savages. There are many things that cause this, like the boy's fear, their young ages, and their hunger, but the biggest cause of the boys turning into savages is Jack Merridew. Jack doesn't care about other people, thinks that he is better than everyone else, and thinks that he is always right and loves violence and bloodshed. After Jack leaves and starts his own tribe, Ralph and Piggy…

Words 402 - Pages 2

Lord Of The Flies

There are those who believe that people are essentially evil. In William Golding's novel Lord Of The Flies, he explores the idea that, even if given a beautiful, untouched island paradise, a group of innocent children would destroy both themselves and their environment. By examining how a group of young, innocent boys are placed on an island paradise but are gradually reduced to savagery, the reader can witness Golding’s view of man. Golding’s novel teaches that, if given the opportunity , people…

Words 562 - Pages 3

Lord Of The Flies Themes

books need a theme to help build onto the plot of the book. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies has many themes that help grow the plot and make the book more interesting. From themes such as loss of innocence to civilization versus savagery, Lord of the Flies contains a numerous amounts of themes that are shown throughout the book by the various symbolic characters and objects. One of the major themes of Lord of the Flies is civilization versus savagery. Jack represents savagery while Ralph and Piggy…

Words 466 - Pages 2