Lord Of The Flies Figurative Language

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of boys crash landed on a deserted island with no adults. They must face conflicts with each other, the island, and themselves to survive. In chapter 9, Jack and his tribe had a feast, and invited all the other boys. During the feast, a storm rolled in, and they became animalistic while eating, chanting, and dancing around the fire. Meanwhile, Simon was on the mountain discovering that the beast wasn’t real. When he went to tell the others, they thought he was the beast, and they attacked and killed him. These events are all the result of one common feeling. In chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies, William Golding employs

Figurative language impacts and illustrates the theme. He first said, “Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms: authority sat on his shoulder…” (150). This refers to Jack. This is an example of personification because it gives not-human things human-like characteristics. It also shows the reader how the power Jack had as chief was maintained by intimidation and the boys’ terror. Next, Golding wrote, “...the chant lost its first superficial excitement and began to beat like a steady pulse” (152). This is a simile and it compares the rhythm of their chant to a steady pulse. This chant was the result of the boys’ fear of the beast, the storm, and their need for a feeling of security. This led to their panic turning into and fueling a tribal savageness. Lastly, the author said, “Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill” (152). This shows a use of dramatic and situational irony. It’s dramatic because the reader knows that the “beast” is Simon, but the boys do not because of their fear-induced savagery. It’s situational because when he was attacked, Simon was on his way to tell the others his discovery about the “beast” on the mountain, but they thought he was the beast and killed him. This connects to the theme because it shows how the author uses figurative language to illustrate the causes of the boys’ fear, how they respond to it, and how they feel in the heat of the