Lord Of The Flies Allegory

Millions of years ago, humans were primitive beings. They were savage and uncivilized, but they couldn’t help it. These were the instincts that were ingrained in their brains, the instincts that kept them alive. These instincts are still inside us today, suppressed by the rules put in place by society. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding is about boys from an all boys school, whose plane crashed on an island while they were trying to escape World War Two. While on the island, the boys struggle with morality and survival. This is modeled by various examples of symbolism and allegories throughout the book. Some of the more notable examples include, the conflict between Jack and Ralph, the conch and the beast’s shifting power, and the climax

The conch is an allegory for civilization and the beast, savagery. As the story goes on, the conch slowly loses power, and fear of the beast takes control. In the opening of the story, it is stated that, “‘I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.’” (45) This shows that the conch holds power, note that this is relatively near the beginning of the story. A little over a month later in the story, the issue with the beast resurfaces, “‘talk of a thing, a dark thing, a beast, some sort of animal.’” (117) . This is the point when we realize that the beast is a big part of this story. The beast, or fear thereof, is slowly taking over the island, until the first hunt with Jack as chief. Because Jack is chief, his savage ways have taken over the island. He influences the rest of the boys, prompting them to the way of fear and savagery, “‘This head is for the beast. It’s a gift.’”

There is good reason why this is considered the “turning point” in the story. This is when civilization is eradicated on the island. Piggy represented intelligence, and the conch represented democracy. Both things are very important aspect of society. This happens on page 260, and very quickly do we begin to see examples of the newfound attitude on the island. For example, eight pages later, on page 268, Ralph is thinking about his newfound problems, “Samneric were savages like the rest; Piggy was dead, and the conch smashed to powder” (268). It had been said beforehand that Samneric had gone over to Jack’s tribe, but it was only for their safety, not because they agreed with what Jack was doing. It was not until Piggy’s death that they began to show signs of primitive behaviors.

Following the climax in the story, Ralph is on the run from Jack’s tribe. During this time period, he sees many of the people hunting him. “A smallish savage was standing between him and the rest of the forest, a savage striped red and white, and carrying a spear” (280). Ralph no longer feels the need to say their names, because he no longer thinks of them as people. He recognizes that the island has deteriorated to a primitive state, and feels the need to address them as