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Savagery In Lord Of The Flies Symbolism Essay

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In the novel, “Lord of the Flies,” by William Golding, the author conveyed numerous themes through various symbols. In this complicated and diverse novel, Golding brings out many ideas and uses literary devices, which added an another glimpse into the story. The main theme that Golding conveyed is the problems between the human urge towards savagery and the regulations of the civilization. Throughout the novel, the conflict more focuses on Ralph and Jack, where they both respectively represent civilization and savagery. There were lot of symbols that Golding used to achieve the particular effect on the readers. In the first two chapters, Ralph and piggy discover the conch shell on the beach and used it to summon the people after the crash. …show more content…

It represents power of rescue and return to civilization. The result to the savagery is symbolized by the fire that sweeps the island, burning away the sign of society and threatening Ralph to death. There was a conversion between Piggy and Ralph with the fire in chapter three and four, Piggy tells Jack, “You got your small fire all right,” thus it symbolizes both hope of rescue and destruction.
The way that Golding connected hair to the theme of savagery vs. Civilization was undoubtedly smart. The growing hair is a representation of how the boys transfer from being human and civilized to savage and animal-like. “His hair was full of dirt and tapped like the tendrils of a creeper.” Ralph’s hair symbolizes law and order. It reminds of how far he is from civilization.
The beast symbolizes evil and inner savagery of boys and mankind. “The Beastie, the snake, the fire, the talk of fear. People started getting frightened.” It represents evil and darkness, where nobody sees the beast except Simon in the dark night. In chapter five, Piggy reacted: “I know there isn’t no beast- not with claws and all that, I mean- but I know there isn’t no fear, either.” The beast also connects back to the beginning of the chapter, where they were on a island, the beast represents the animal instincts of teenagers that are being left on the

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Additionally, in “Now he says it was a beastie”(Doc B) the text says,”He says the beastie came in the dark… He was dreaming… He must of had a nightmare…” Both of these quotes clearly show how the creature represents fear.

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Savagery, uncivilized, and hypocritical children have clouded their judgment when trying to figure out if there is a real beastie. A monstrous figure frightens the juvenile boys that landed on this forsaken island. In the Lord of the Flies, these English boys are all alone to defend for themselves, thats when it all unravels. This mythical monster sooner called the “beast” is symbolized a fear of a mistaken beast, as the darkness of war, and the evilness of humanity waiting to be unleashed.

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The major use of symbolism was describing and developing the presence of the beast on the island. The beast started off as a mysterious monster that lurked in the water only to come out at night in order to kill. As the book progresses, it becomes more evident that the monster is not a tangible being but more spiritual. The boys describe it as "A blackness that spreads” in chapter nine while Jack is talking with the boys. Simon says "I'm the beast ...

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At the start of the story, the beast is introduced and represents a manifestation of the boy's fear of the unknown. Most boys know that it isn’t real and Jack explains to the ones that do, “ Well then—I’ve been all over this island. By myself. If there were a beast I’d have seen it. Be frightened because you’re like that—but there is no beast in the forest” ( Golding 83).

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As the boys have been on the island for increasingly long amounts of time, their hair grows and they start to have to stand with “one hand holding back [their] hair, the other clenched.” (66) By implying that their hair has gotten so long that they have to “clench” it, Golding is also saying that long periods of time have gone by and they have become more accustomed to the island. Not only is this quote implying that time has passed by, but since hair is also a symbol for savagery, it is showing that the boys have become even more savage. Another interesting occurrence with hair length is the fact that “[Piggy] was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow. The rest were shockheaded, but Piggy’s hair still lay in wisps over his head as though baldness were his natural state and this imperfect covering would soon go, like the velvet on a young stag’s antlers” (63).

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1. Shortly after arriving on the island, Ralph and Piggy discover a conch in the water. Ralph blows the conch to announce his location so the boys can gather. From the first use of the conch, it signifies the unity of the boys because it is what brought them together. The conch is also used to maintain organization.

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In the beginning, the conch brought the boys together on the beach. “Ralph found his breath and blew a series of short blasts. Piggy exclaimed: ‘There’s one!’ A child had appeared among the palms, about a hundred yards along the beach” (17). More boys appeared later, and that’s what made them a group.

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The boys' fear leads them into a hell loop of being scared of what they do not know and then having it amplified repeatedly, making the beast more real and dangerous to them. The boy's amplification of the fear of the beast leads to the destruction of their trust in each other and represents the initial collapse of their society and the trouble it will bring. After going on a group mission to find the beast, they believe they have caught glimpses of it. All the boys freak out and decide it would be better if they forgot the beast, try their best to leave it behind, and even attempt to appease it. And about the beast.

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How Savagery Takes Over George R.R. Martin once said, “There is a savage beast in every man, and when you hand that man a sword or spear and send him forth to war, the beast stirs.” William Golding demonstrates that every person has savagery inside of him in his novel, Lord of the Flies. In this novel, Golding shows us that civilization is lost and savagery begins when the urge to kill takes hold of us. William Golding’s character development of Jack and motif of weapons help develop his point.

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The beast started as a something mysterious and scary that gave nightmares to littluns but became something that brought the evil that was hidden in the boys’ hearts. The beast symbolizes littluns’ feelings of insecurity arising from the fear of the unknown, absence of grownups and bullying behaviors of some of the bigguns. Beast was first mentioned when Piggy voiced the concern of a boy with a mulberry birthmark. “He wants to know what you’re going to do about the snake thing.”

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However the beast truly is only within them, Golding uses the beast to symbolise and show the reader the evil within everyone including a pack of young boys, the concept the boys have of the beast begins to break down the order on the island.

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Literary Analyses of the Lord of the Flies The Lord of the Flies demonstrates a wide variety of symbolism; from Christ to Satan the children are portrayed in an abstract manner to represent these religious beings, as well as a symbol of great strife for power. Two of the main symbolic devices are used in the form of a mystical Conch and a cumbersome Sow’s head perched atop a stake; however these symbols represent very different ideas. Next the Lord of the Flies demonstrates the burden and struggle of power in multiple ways. William Golding included within this novel the power of symbolism, using inanimate objects, characters, or even landmasses to represent ideals derived from basic human morals and Christian religion that has a major influence

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Everyone has this underlying darkness within them that is hidden away deep inside the nooks and crannies of their hearts. Golding demonstrates this through the use of his major characters, Ralph and Jack. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding utilizes character development to suggest the idea that when individuals are separated from civilization, dark forces will arise and threaten unity and harmony. Golding presents the protagonist, Ralph, who is decently intelligent and completely civilized, to demonstrate how once individuals are pulled away from civilization, the dark forces within them will arise and change how they are for the time being.

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Most children are scared of things such as monsters under the bed or the dark, but this story does not occur in these places, nor does it occur anywhere close. The “Beast” in the story is much different than monsters or the dark and the “Beast” differs or changes in ways. One thing that the Beast symbolizes is fear. In the text it states “They externalize these fears into the figure of a “Beast”(Doc A). To clarify they turn their fears into a figure of something they all fear or they are all afraid of this thing they call the “Beast”, they think that there is a monster after them or that there is a monster on the island that wants to kill them when in hindsight there is nothing there trying to kill them or eat them but instead it's just their fears turning into something even

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Golding says “The boys broke into shrill, exciting cheering” (41) in the beginning of the novel, then at the end of the novel says, “A great clamor rose among the savages” (164). William Golding who wrote The Lord of the Flies changes his word choice from “boys” to “savages” to emphasize the fact that the boys change into savage creatures. Three symbols represent civilization and change into chaos over the course of the novel. The three symbols representing change are Piggy’s glasses, The fire, and the conch. These figures demonstrate the important theme that the calm civilization will soon break out into disorder.

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