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Lord Of The Flies Figurative Language Essay

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Figurative language can greatly enrich a novel by augmenting the general story with depictions and details that add to the general meaning of the writing. William Golding uses this type of composition in his novel Lord of the Flies. By using figurative language, the author can extend a greater message throughout the novel by bringing together certain words and phrases that serve a meaning throughout the whole book. In the novel, Golding employs figurative language to enhance the theme of the story that civilization is always a few acts from barbarity. The utilization of the conch and war paint to symbolize both civilization and savagery respectively epitomize the constant battle for supremacy in the minds of the impressionable public. Throughout Lord of the Flies, Golding uses figurative language effectively to demonstrate that the conch symbolizes democracy and order. This object represents the respectable and orderly aspects of life on the island and is the main power token of Ralph and Piggy until the tragedy that occurs. When Piggy is struck by the rock pushed off the cliff by Roger “the conch explode[s] into a thousand tiny white fragments and cease[s] to exist” (Golding 209). Within this sequence of events, the conch is effective in illustrating the theme that society can always be …show more content…

By coating their faces in mud and the blood of the butchered sow, they are able to adopt new personas that complete a transformation of civilized children to cold-blooded killers. They soon become the respected and feared members of the island and Ralph and his tribe understand “the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint [brings]” (Golding 199). Even the naïve and timid boys of Ralph’s faction comprehend that by the tribe painting their faces, they become killers without morals. This

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The conch is a symbol that appears numerous times throughout the book Lord of the Flies. The conch represents the boys’ struggle on the island. In the beginning of the book, the boys still have worth because they believe that they will soon be rescued from the island, just as Piggy comes to the realization at the beginning of the novel that he and Ralph should pick up the conch when they find it because it has value to them. Piggy says to Ralph, “—a conch; ever so expensive,” showing that he sees the value in what others, including Ralph, see as just a shell (16).

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In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the conch is a primary symbol, which represents civility and order. Throughout the book it served as a power tool that the boys highly respected, in fact, the symbolism of the conch begins before it is even blown. Ralph is the one who originally discovers and posses the shell, but it’s Piggy who explains it’s significance. Piggy has to teach Ralph how to blow it; this shows how from the beginning the conch is linked with both Piggy and Ralph.

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This is an example of how the conch symbolizes the rules within the boys society because the conch is what tells when the boys when they can talk. The rules created by the conch is what led to a lot of the boys disagreements which slowly drove them to become¨beasts¨. Overall the conch is the most symbolic piece in Lord of the Flies because it symbolizes the boys rules, their civilization, and power over the boys. This is important to the theme of the story because the conch helps the boys realize that they are the beast all along. The conch helps the boys to notice this because when it breaks they realize it was controlling them all along and making them the

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