How Does Golding Present Death In Lord Of The Flies

Death is often viewed as a tragedy, but it is an inevitable part of life and should be expected. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys, aged five to 12, are stranded on an island when the plane they were on crashes. The boys are forced to work together to survive on this tropical, secluded island but they eventually descend into savagery. William Golding wrote this story as a darker take on the adventure novels that were popular at the time, where he added his negative perspective from fighting in World War II, the deadliest war in history. Throughout the novel, Golding uses the deaths of the sow, Simon, and Piggy to develop various themes in the story. Arguably, the killing of the sow is the murder that resonates

After the boys kill the sow, Jack puts her head on a stick and presents it as a sacrifice to the beast. The pig’s head on a stick appears to speak to Simon, saying “You’d better run off and play with the others. They think you’re batty,” and “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast,” to which Simon replies, “Pig’s head on a stick” (143). It is well-established that Simon is different from the other boys because of his secretive nature. He often separates from the group and goes off into his clearing in the forest, where he encounters this beast. Simon symbolizes the group’s moral conscience through his maturity and natural goodness, which contrasts sharply with Jack’s evil. When he wakes up, Simon discovers that the beast is a dead paratrooper, and he runs down the mountain to the other boys to tell them. The rest of the boys end up surrounding a terrified Simon, mistaking him for the beast: “The chant rose a tone in agony. ‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!’…Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill… It [the beast] was crying out against the abominable noise, something about a body on a hill” (152). With Simon’s animalistic death goes civility. One could argue that Ralph and Piggy also represent order, but they partake in the ring that the boys form around Simon and eat the food that Jack hunts. Ralph symbolizes government and authority, which can

From the second Ralph learned his name, he’s been ridiculed as the visually impaired, asthmatic, uncharismatic, and unathletic nerd. Specifically, his glasses are thrown around and used to symbolize the power of science and reason. As the boys stray further from order, the glasses become more and more broken. Jack and a group of his hunters surprise attacked Ralph’s group at night, initiating not a murder, but a robbery: “The chief led them, trotting steadily, exulting in his achievement. He was a chief now in truth…From his left hand dangled Piggy’s broken glasses” (168). Piggy reacts uncharacteristically, saying “I’m going to him [Jack] with this conch in my hands…Look, I’m goin’ to say, you’re stronger than I am and you haven’t got asthma…Give me my glasses, I’m going to say – you got to!” (171). Piggy’s impulsive and passionate statement shows how he has slowly become like the other boys. His naivety manifests itself through his undying belief in the power of the conch. When Piggy dies, he takes his beloved conch with him out to sea: “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist…Then the sea breathed again in a long, slow sigh…and when it went, sucking back again, the body of Piggy was gone” (181). Piggy, symbolizing reason, dies during his last attempt to unite the group with the conch. Ultimately, it is his lack of charisma and