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Symbols In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

567 Words3 Pages

Title: Symbols in "Lord of the Flies"

Introduction:
The book "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding is all about these kids who get stuck on an island and things go cray cray. Golding uses a bunch of symbols to show deeper meanings and stuff. They're like these secret codes that represent human nature and society. In this essay, we're gonna look at some of the main symbols in the book and what they mean.

Paragraph 1: The Conch Shell
One of the coolest symbols in the book is the conch shell. The boys find it and use it to have meetings and keep things in order. It stands for power and rules and stuff. Whenever someone blows the conch, it's a big deal and everyone has to come together. But later on, when everything gets messed up, the conch …show more content…

At first, the boys are freaked out by this idea of a monster on the island. But as the story goes on, we find out that the real beast is inside them. It's like their own darkness and evil that they have to deal with. The boys are scared to face it and it shows how hard it is to resist being savage and giving in to our worst instincts.

Paragraph 3: The Signal Fire
The signal fire is a symbol of hope and rescue. It's like their lifeline to civilization and getting off the island. When the fire is going strong, it means they still have a chance to be saved. But when it starts to die down, it's like their hope is fading too. It's a sign that they're losing their connection to the outside world and things are getting worse.

Paragraph 4: The Pig's Head (The Lord of the Flies)
Okay, this one is super creepy. There's this pig's head on a stick that the boys call "The Lord of the Flies." It's like a symbol of the evil inside all of us. The head talks to this one kid, Simon, and it's like the embodiment of all the darkness and messed up stuff that people are capable of. It's pretty intense and shows how scary people can be when they let their evil side take

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This symbol represents leadership, communication, media, law, authority, and participation. The shell represents communication because the children pass it around to show who gets to speak and when. On page 39 William Golding wrote, “We’ll have to have ‘Hands Up’ like at school…’” (Golding, 39). He wrote on the same page, “Then I’ll give him the conch…’”

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The boys were pushed to this level of savagery by the need for power. In chapter nine of Lord of the Flies, William Golding employs symbolism, repetition, and animal imagery to convey the theme that the need for power can cause people to become savages. Golding uses the rhetorical strategy symbolism to convey the theme that the need for power can cause people to become savages. In this story they use a conch shell to symbolize order within the group.

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Used in this competence, the conch shell serves as the first step towards civilization and order in the novel. As the group grows more efficient, the conch summons the boys for group meetings and permits the boys to speak in an organized manner. Each boy abided by the standards enforced by the conch and “by the time Ralph finished blowing the conch, the platform was crowded.” (Golding 32) When the civilization begins to decline, the effectiveness of the conch shell starts to erode. Ralph insists that “rules are the only thing [they’ve] got” that will keep them united.

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