Symbols In Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

There are many objects in life that are said or used that do not mean what they actually are, or are said metaphorically to symbolize a deeper meaning. Most of the time when an author says something symbolically, they leave the reader to figure out what it means. In the allegorical novel Lord of The Flies by William Golding he uses objects to symbolize the nature of man and many other things, and leaves the reader to determine what he means. The first symbol that will be discussed will be the fire that the boys try to keep lit throughout the whole novel, second would be the conch which demonstrates power, and last is Ralph’s hair which would grow uncontrollably. There are many objects in the novel that were used to portray symbols that represented …show more content…
During the novel, the “civilized” boys try to keep the fire burning due to the fact that they want to be rescued, and get off the island to go back to civilization. In chapter two, they realize that their only hope of being rescued would be to start a fire and hope that a ship sees it. “If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire." (Golding 33). The fire is a symbol because the boys wanting to be rescued demonstrates their ties to civilization and how they want to stay civilized as they should be. The main theme of the novel is the struggle between savagery and civilization, and wanting to be rescued shows that the nature of man will be civilized at first. Next, even though the fire symbolizes civilization and rescue, it also represents the savagery within the boys. The boys had a hard time with the struggle of savagery and civilization, and there were many demonstrations that showed this, but a big factor of it is the fire. “But I tell you the smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one.” (Golding 74). The fire still symbolizes rescue to Ralph, but to some boys it is starting to represent savagery, because they want to roast pigs instead of use it for rescue, and Ralph thinks they are neglecting keeping the fire going …show more content…
In the beginning of the novel, in chapter 1, Ralph has short, clean hair, which shows that he was still civilized and a normal boy. “The boy with fair hair lowered himself…” (Golding 5). The very first words of the novel are about Ralph’s hair, which goes to show that his hair is not just a filler, and it is used to symbolize something deeper than just a physical object. But, as Ralph’s hair continuously grows, his savagery grows too, and he knows about it and wants to cut it or, at least clean himself so that he does not become a savage and he stays attached to society. “He would like to have a pair of scissors and cut this hair—he flung the mass back—cut this filthy hair right back to half an inch” (Golding 101). The reason Ralph’s hair gets mentioned frequently is because it shows the readers that the more his hair grows, the more savage he becomes and the farther away he gets from civilization, and Ralph realizes this and wants to cut his hair to be as close as possible. Towards the end of the novel, Ralph was still civilized, but he was still getting slowly more savage, and as his hair grew he started deteriorating. “Ralph remember what we came for. The Fire. My Specs” (Golding 164). Ralph needs help to get himself back on track, because as stated before, as his hair got longer he became more detached

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