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Sow's Head In Lord Of The Flies Essay

541 Words3 Pages

The Lord of Flies by William Golding has many symbols of evil, one of which is the sow’s head. William Golding uses the image of the sow’s head as a figure to lead the reader to understand the parallel of human evil and the evil that Satan represents in the bible. The sow’s head, represents savagery, innate evil in human beings, and a Satan figure. The image of it is a major symbol to move the reader along in the battle between civilization and savagery. First, the overwhelming savagery of the pig hunt makes the trophy of the sow’s head the appearance of evil. The beast is an imaginary creature that the boys have made up to symbolize their fear. It implies that to kill without reason is pure savagery, and it also is foreshadowing of the death of Simon. Simon likewise understands that the other boys have lost all reason and they resort to violence to appease the beast. “The half-shut eyes were dim with infinite cynicism of adult life. They assured Simon that everything was a bad business.”(Golding 192). The barbarity of the symbol indicates a loss of innocence and the emergence of pure innate evil. The next …show more content…

The discussion between the voice coming from the sow’s head and Simon parallels the discussion between Lucifer and Jesus in the bible. “A gift for the beast. Might not the beast come for it? The head, he thought, appeared to agree with him. Run away, said the head silently, go back to the others.”(Golding 192). In the bible Satan temps Jesus to give up and the story Lord of Flies implies that the sow’s head was trying to get Simon to give up. Simon is the only character who is inherently good so this is the reason behind the temptation of evil to defeat good. As stated in the Holy Bible, “If you the Son of God, He said, throw yourself down.” (Matthew 4:6). William Golding uses the relationship between the two different stories to show that the Devil is present in the exchange with Simon and the Lord of

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