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Fire Symbolism In Lord Of The Flies

1318 Words6 Pages

Lord of the Flies

Symbolism

Fire Fire in the novel, Lord of the Flies is supposedly to represent hope in their survival, rescue. Ironically, fire is what results to the destruction on the island, yet, what saves the boys on the island. Before the boys had been stranded on the island the island was peaceful and was a silent place. After the plane crashes, there are no more adults who can ‘control’ and teach them. At first, all of them are confused and the side of innocence still exists within the boys. Yet, why do some of the boys fail to become civilized and chose their own way of uncivilized survival, is due to the idea of allegory that is used for fire. The allegory of fire that Golding uses in the novel Lord of the Flies is the Greek …show more content…

Simon seems to hallucinate and talks with the Pig’s Head. As he talks with the Pig’s Head, it is revealed that the Pig’s head is the Lord of the Flies. Lord of the Flies is the direct definition of Beelzebub, a devil. Beelzebub is referred as evil in Biblical sources and fits the use of the allegory relating to the Bible. As the Lord of the Flies speaks to Simon it is important that it tells Simon that the beast doesn’t really exist and it is among the humans. Simon knew this before he met the Lord of the Flies. However, he cannot say this to the boys because of the attention and fear that the boys will laugh at him. The Lord of the Flies is the opposing force against Simon who is the ‘true good’ of the novel and the Lord of the Flies being the true and real evil. The Lord of the Flies is not only the opposing, but probably the dark side of Simon himself. The dark side of Simon uses Simon’s self-accusation of blaming himself that he is the one to cause the confliction between the civilization and that by him not saying about the beast being them, it shows how much struggle Simon had by showing his inner feelings. It is the fate of human to be tested from their temptations of evil. Ralph when at last discovers that the beast is themselves, by seeing Simon die shows us that the evil can only be recognized by the

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The use of symbolism is often used by authors to show a deeper meaning to an object within a story. These enhancements to the meaning of objects gives readers insight to what is really being represented. Although they may seem vague, they create a path to better understanding of characters and scenarios within a story. A proper use of this technique can be witnessed in Lord of the Flies. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, symbolism is used to depict a greater meaning within the objects that appear throughout the novel.

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398 Words | 2 Pages

Left behind by others, Simon is left all alone in the glade with the pig head. When he makes a remark aloud, the Lord of the Flies (the pig head) responds with, “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast…. Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!...

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1243 Words | 5 Pages

Golding shows the juxtaposition between these in Simon representing humanity, goodness, and light and the Lord of the Flies representing savagery, evil, and darkness. Simon, throughout the novel, helped others as much as he could, even at the expense of himself. One time when the littluns were hungry and searching for food, “Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach” (50). Rather than being selfish, like many of those in Jack’s tribe who took from others and did not share, Simon shared the food that he could have kept for himself with those who could not get it themselves. In Jack’s tribe at the end of one of their hunts, they put a stick in the head of a pig and stuck it up out of the ground.

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894 Words | 4 Pages

When Simon first encounters the Lord of the Flies, he realizes that it is a manifestation of the boys' fear and savagery. He thinks to himself, "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?" (Chapter 8).

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918 Words | 4 Pages

Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, is a novel that tells the story of a plane full of English schoolboys, evacuating the ongoing war, crashing near an island, leaving them marooned. With there being no adults or supervision the boys are left to fend and survive on their own. A boy by the name of Ralph is picked as their chief and he organizes fire and shelter. Another boy by the name of Jack, who is leader of the choir boys that were on the plane takes that group hunting. Over the during of the novel, the hunters become savage especially under the influence of jack.

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All things are capable of change in our world, and the symbolism of fire in Lord of the Flies is no different. In the book a group of boys land on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. They try to build a society built on the ideas of the adult society they came from. At first the boys seemed to be structured and ordered, but soon their primal instincts of savagery came out changing their system into a horrifying nightmare. Throughout Lord of the Flies, the strength and purpose of the fire created by the boys seems to be a meter of the boys connection to civilization, where towards the beginning it is strong and valiant, and then slowly loses its importance and burns out and finally it encircles the whole island due to its savage purposes

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At this time the boys did not know that it was Simon, they simply beat him because they were afraid and they assumed it was a monster. The godly figure that the boys fear in “The Lord of the Flies” is shadow on the mountain. The boys begin to fear the shadow. The boys begin to fear this shadow, and treat it almost as a God, they even begin to leave it offerings. In the chrysalids this figure is their God.

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706 Words | 3 Pages

Beast, devil, evil, corruption, the seven deadly sins, they all represent some form of evil within humankind. Lord of the Flies is the story of schoolboys that have crash landed on an unoccupied island, and go through many hardships as they fight for power and try to be saved. Throughout the story, however, they boys go from having a civilized structure to utter chaos, they struggle for their lives and grasp for survival from a darker creature on the island. Within chapter nine, Simon discovers the beast for what it really is; meanwhile Ralph and Piggy decide to join the other bigguns for a feast with Jack’s tribe. The boys play and dine, and circle together for a “dance” when Simon stumbles out of the forest to tell them of his discovery, and lands in the circle, which results in him being brutally beat to death.

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830 Words | 4 Pages

Simon becomes aware of his internal cruelty when it manifests itself in hallucinatory forms as “The Lord of the Flies”. Simon at first lacks the understanding and cannot comprehend what is happening until the hallucination says “‘Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill!’ said the head. For a moment or two the forest and other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter. ‘You knew didn’t you?

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1122 Words | 5 Pages

In the chapter titled “Gift for the Darkness” Simon hears the sound of the flies buzzing around the Lord of the Flies. The buzzing sound is what causes Simon to have hallucinations. These hallucinations leads to Simon hearing the Lord of the Flies talking to him. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon that evil is within all the boys.

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957 Words | 4 Pages

Although the other boys laugh off Simon’s suggestion, Simon’s words are central to Golding’s philosophy of anti-transcendentalism, that innate human darkness exists. Simon is the first character in the novel to see “mankind’s essential illness” which in turn, shows the beast not as an external force but as a component of human nature. Simons deep understanding of the beast is further expressed in his hallucination or his “discussion” with the lord of the flies that he has after one of his fainting spells, “There isn't anyone to help you. Only me. And I'm the Beast...

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1216 Words | 5 Pages

In literature symbolism plays a significant role. Symbolism basically relates to the symbols that points towards specific ideas not in a literal sense but by use of multiple symbols. It really gives the deeper stratum of meaning to a work of literature. Symbolic meaning is employed to give something totally different meaning which is much more deeper and you can say the idea becomes implied to some extent . In novels symbolism highlights the deeper implications of the situations or characters and their effects.

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1077 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the beginning of the novel, Ralph is the leader of the fight to keep and maintain the fire, but he is starting to give up hope and lets the fire die. Lastly, fire symbolizes hope during the end of the novel. Jack and most of the other boys have turned on Ralph and want to “hunt” him. They decided that the best way to get Ralph to come to them on the beach was to light the whole forest on fire so Ralph would be forced out to the beach. Ralph was trying to run out of the forest as “the roar of the forest rose to thunder and a tall bush directly in his path burst into a great fan-shaped fan.

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820 Words | 4 Pages

“‘There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast’” (Golding 143). Despite being one of the few boys who did not believe in the beast, the stress and fear still got to Simon as he began to see decapitated sow’s head as the Lord of the Flies.

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1127 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the novel of Lord of the Flies, William Golding provides a profound insight into human nature. Golding builds on a message that all human beings have natural evil inside them. To emphasize, the innate evil is revealed when there’s lack of civilization. The boys are constantly faced with numerous fears and eventually break up into two different groups. Although the boys believe the beast lives in the jungle, Golding makes it clear that it lurks in their hearts.

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