Archetypes And Symbols In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

Lord of the Flies Archetypes and Symbols Essay
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a dystopian novel that displays themes that surround human nature; emotion, rebellion, violence, chaos, etc. It displays a slow but inevitable regression to the basic state of the human mind. As the story progresses, the loss of self-control, structure, and government is discernable in the boys on the island. Throughout the novel, a theme becomes evident: a lack of social structure leads humans to revert to their primal nature, savagery. Golding displays this through a series of symbols such as the conch, Piggy’s glasses, and even the characters themselves, all of which erode and are eventually destroyed, whether it be physically

Ralph is one of the oldest of the group and he acts as the initial leader figure by organizing the boys into some semblance of society. Ralph's authority is represented through the conch shell and fire. The conch was the only remnant of civilized society on the island through its smallscale embodiment of democracy, as set in place by Ralph; “I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking” (Golding 45). It was used to call meetings, rally all of the plane survivors together, and act as a physical embodiment of power on the island causing it to instantly become the heart of Ralph’s order system. Fire was the only physical beacon of hope on the island and was heavily enforced by Ralph. We've got to have special people for looking after the fire…” (Golding 42). The fire symbolized hope for rescue and survival. The ultimate demise of the fire was due to the selfish desire of the other boys to be wild and disregard Ralph and his rules. When the fire went out Ralph’s authority quickly began to falter and the desire for savagery began to spread through the camp like wildfire. The gruesome murder of Simon leads to the inevitable downfall of Ralph as a leader; “Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of the sky found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society. They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made

Jack throughout the story fights against the establishment of order and furthers the group's transcendence into savagery. “Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong – we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat - !” (Golding 99). At every turn, Jack belittles the rules if they are not in favor of his insatiable desire to hunt and kill. As the story progresses, his relationship with Ralph is destructive, they are always on opposite ends of the argument. Being that Ralph symbolizes government and order, his animosity with Jack further proves the point that Jack symbolizes the opposite; “[Jack] hates you too, Ralph...You got him over the fire, and you’re chief and he isn’t… He can’t hurt you: but if you stand out of the way he’d hurt the next thing...” (Golding 93). Jack’s desire to kill soon begins to take priority over the duties of the camp and as he starts to fall deeper and deeper into his desire he brings in more and more of the boys along with him. When Jack stole Piggy's glasses out of spite for Ralph, he showed a lack of humanity, and he did not care about the fate of Ralph or any other boys still on Ralph’s side of the island. Being that Piggy’s glass in the story represented hope and Piggy’s ability to voice reason, taking Piggy’s glasses also resulted in taking complete control of the island; “The chief [Jack]