Symbolism in Lord of the Flies
Symbolism is the practice of investing things with a symbolic meaning, or by expressing the invisible or intangible by means of visible or sensuous representations; in other words, discussing or explaining a broader, more general topic by linking it symbolically with a specific event in a literary work. Time after time and novel after novel, authors since the beginning of literature have used symbolism to present ideas, concepts, emotions, moods, and many other feelings. Symbolism involves the quest for reality beyond the physical world. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses parallelism and symbolism to tell a story about "boys on an island" that create their own society to survive alone. The island itself is the most significant symbol in the novel because it represents mankind in its entirety, and the boys on the island represent a microcosm of humans. Golding uses these boys as an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. Three of the most important things in a society are government, higher faith, and intelligence, all of which Golding addresses in his microcosm.It may be noted that a good part of Golding's novel analyzes the negative consequences of complete permissiveness in human be
At the start of the novel, Piggy the intellectual and Ralph the leader form an alliance at the head of the boys. Later, Jack the dictator smacks Piggy, sending his glasses flying across the rocks. "One side's broken," Piggy says calmly after finding them again. At this point, the power within the dictator is coming out and the element of violence casts intelligence aside. Gradually, the dictatorial powers become more potent and eventually overpower the intelligence of Piggy and the common sense of Ralph. This point in the novel occurs symbolically when Jack and his savages attack and torment Ralph and Piggy with the intention of stealing Piggy's glasses to start their own fire. When Jack and his savages succeed at stealing the remaining lens, they have practically stolen their reason for existing and hoping for a rescue. By the end of novel, Piggy stands alone with Ralph against the savages and eventually meets his demise when Jack's alter ego, Roger, sends a boulder down on Piggy, crushing him viciously. "His head open and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy's arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig's after it has been killed." This description of Piggy's brutal murder brings back the first manifestation of the beast that lies within the human soul. The blood and power lust prevalent in the savages, which led to the first killing of a pig on the island, culminates in this ultimate murder of a human being. Jack's counterpart on the island is most obviously Simon. While Jack represents human primitive instinct, Simon represents a shining hope on the island. Simon's true benevolence and charity offset the pessimism exhibited in the selfish retrogression to savagery seen in most of the boys. His concern for others is first apparent in the consideration he has for the littluns. "Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands." This symbolic act is distinctly Christ-like and places an aura of holiness around him. Most importantly, Simon makes a large effort to free the island from the fear of the beast. It is he that knows the truth about the mountain beast a
Some common words found in the essay are:
Flies Ralph, Ralph Piggy, Lord Flies-, Symbolic Piggy's, Primarily Jack, William Golding, Simon Jack, Flies It's, , Lord Flies, lord flies, jack represents, jack savages, intelligence knowledge, society government, novel piggy, boys island,
Approximate Word count = 1470
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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