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Symbolism In Lord Of The Flies

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In the Lord of the Flies, an allegorical novel by William Golding, a group of boys find themselves on an uninhabited island with everything essential for survival. Prior to the boys, the island was perfect and had no blemishes or flaws. Then, when the boys crashed into the island, the island had an unsightly gash, otherwise known as the "scar". Different locations and items such as the fire, the conch, the scar, and the island all represent significant ideas. In the Lord of The Flies, the island represents a perfect paradise that later is plagued with an unpleasant fault known as the "scar". Similar to the civilized and innocent boys who later turn to hostile savages represents a critical theme: as we are exposed to more and more scenarios in life, we begin to lose our innocence. The symbolism in the Lord of the Flies is …show more content…

The island, once originally beautiful, "ran true to form and the incredible pool" (Golding 14). The island was originally astonishing and at this time the island looked like it was an old form. However, after the plane crash and the scar became exposed, the island finally had a flaw; "Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and the open space of the scar" (Golding 10). The once elegant island became repulsive with the addition of the open scar. This idea relates to the theme of humans losing innocence as we experience more and more of life, as the island became exposed to the aspect of civilization which caused the scar disrupting the utopian paradise which was once the island. Before the boys were left to survive

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1479 Words | 6 Pages

IMAGERY The novel begins with a bunch of young boys who are trapped on an island after a plane crash. Throughout the novel William Golding includes various types of imagery to accurately describe each significant place on the island the boys are stranded on. An example would be calling the place where the airplane sliced through the brush “the scar”. The most realistic use of imagery is the description of the patch of the island where the boys would burn what they intended to be a "small fire."

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921 Words | 4 Pages

In an area that was once dancing with butterflies now lies the hanging shadow of death and with death comes flies. After Jack and his boys killed the sow, they cut of her head and placed it on a stick in a clearing that was one of the most beautiful places on the island. With this pig head on the stick, comes hundreds of flies, spilt guts, and the indignity whole situation. The flies were “black and iridescent green and without number” (138), and took over a place that was full of hope and beauty. To add onto that, the first thing the boys contribute to the island was leave a scar where a plane crash showing that where there are humans, there is destruction.

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225 Words | 1 Pages

One of the many significant physical settings in Lord of the Flies is the scar. It symbolizes the mark that mankind seems to leave on every surface, typically in a harmful way. Throughout the book, the scar is described as an area of land where there are broken trees and soil caused by the crashing of the plane. In the very first chapter of the book, the scar is characterized as “a gash visible in the trees” where there were “splintered trunks”.

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1115 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout William Golding's, Lord of the Flies, fear and agonizes and controls the boys. The beast, representing fear, terrorizes the boys into savagery. When the boys land on the island, the idea of no adults and freedom overcome them. They start to explore and wander through the island.

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426 Words | 2 Pages

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s portrayal of the stranded boys’ bloodlust shows a childhood filled with tribulation and terror. Golding showcases his belief that all men contain wicked desires when the boys abandon their attempts of democracy on the island. Their time spent on the island reveals that even childhood innocence turns dark without society enforcing justice. Simon’s hallucination with the pig’s head creates a physical representation of the evil that took over the stranded boys. The pig tells Simon, “fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!

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1122 Words | 5 Pages

Everyone will face evil at some point in their lives, but the way the evil is embraced or deflected will differ among every man. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, symbolism is used to communicate the theme of Understanding the Inhumanity/Inherent Evil of Man as represented through the double ended spear, the fire, and the Lord of the Flies. The spear represents the evil inside of humankind and the perception that killing and hurting each other out of anger is acceptable. Fire symbolizes the evil act of stealing to achieve a human wants. Lastly, the Lord of the Flies symbolizes the Inherent Evil of Man through demonstrating that a boy understood that the evil is within them instead of around them, and is not something that could be killed

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Everything experienced in life is used for personal growth and learning. However, these experiences can change the way a person thinks or behaves. In the book Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows how some of these experiences have the ability to strip a person of their identity, in particular, young and impressionable children. A young boy uses his appearance to hide his insecurities from those around him. Being stranded on an island is an experience that is beginning to change who this boy is.

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389 Words | 2 Pages

The “scar” in the woods is the visible mark that the plane made on the island. When the boys emerge from the scar and “tangled undergrowth” this simply means they came out of the “forest” aspect of the island. “That storm dragged it out to sea. It wasn 't half dangerous with all them tree trunks falling…” (pg.8) 3.

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1069 Words | 5 Pages

In the allegory Lord of the Flies, author William Golding employs a pure and innocent young boy, Simon, as an allusion and symbol of Jesus Christ to substantially convey the message that innocence, mortality, and truth are devoured at the hands of humankind’s innate savagery and evil. Freed from the constraints of society and civilization, the boys relish in their freedom in the isolated tropical island and eventually descend into instinctual madness and sin, the lines between democracy and anarchy blurring. Determined to save his friends,

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From the ashes of death and despair rose a revolutionary artistic and scientific movement that tore down conservative paradigms, erecting monuments of innovation that would reverberate across humanity for centuries to come. This movement, known as the Italian Renaissance, symbolized a “rebirth” as it brought ancient Greco-Roman intellectualism and fused it with novel innovation. Within this movement, Filipo Brunelleschi engineered a monumental dome with no central support, through methods that perplex contemporary experts. Noblewoman Catherine de’ Pizan, penned one of the pioneering words of feminist literature, inspiring women to educate themselves during an era marked by significant constraints on their autonomy. Finally, Leonardo Da Vinci

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709 Words | 3 Pages

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, young boys get stranded on an island with no adults in the midst of a war. The boys were orderly and civilized in the beginning but then as they began killing pigs they slowly became savages and lost their civilization. The boys began turning on each other and the evil within them became present. Golding uses a variety of literary devices including personification, symbols, metaphors, and irony, to project the theme that pure and realistic people in the world can be unheard and destroyed by evil.

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487 Words | 2 Pages

William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies in my opinion is a religious allegory; the characters and island symbolize something religious. The novel Lord of the Flies is a religious allegory that explores the inherent evil in human nature. The novel follows a group of british boys who became savage, echoing the biblical story of Adam and Eve’s fall from grace. In this novel Golding is using the beast to symbolize the devil.

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969 Words | 4 Pages

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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615 Words | 3 Pages

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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835 Words | 4 Pages

Symbols are objects, characters, colours or figures that are often used in literature to add a greater meaning to a text. One must comprehend the significance of symbols to fully understand a literary work. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the Conch and the Fire are both important symbols that are presented in the allegory. Nonetheless, it is evident that the Fire is more significant than the Conch when one considers the plot, character and theme. To begin with, the Fire plays a more important role than the Conch because it continues to effectively develop the plot.

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