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The use of symbolism in lord of the flies
The use of symbolism in lord of the flies
The use of symbolism in lord of the flies
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Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a movie about a group of young, preteen boys who get stranded on an island. It tells the story of the boys’ time on the island, and how their attempt at civilization was ultimately a disaster. It is wrong to say that the boys’ actions were the result of the human survival instinct. This is because they did many horrible things that they did not have to do to survive. For instance, the wild hunting chant and dance that Jack’s tribe did, that resulted in Simon’s death.
William Golding's book Lord of the Flies, shows how evil humans are at heart. The book is about a group of British boys who crash on an island and slowly turn savage. Jack and Ralph are split into two groups and after all the conflict ends up with people dead. William Golding in his book Lord of the flies tells us that people are more evil than good. This is shown in the killing of Simon, the killing of Piggy, and the killing of the sow.
Imagine you're falling out of a plane, children screaming, and no adults in sight. You’re left stranded alone with children you've never met before. Someone must lead to survive. Who's it going to be? This exact situation takes place in the novel, Lord of the Flies, which faces two young boys against each other in a competition to be the chief.
Simon is the only boy who doesn't appear to be afraid of the forest. It might be because he knows that he's safer alone than with the other boys. This quote represents fear, because it shows Simon doesn’t mind being alone in the forest, while the rest other boys are too scared to be alone. It also shows that Simon much rather prefers to be alone than with all the other boys, because of all the savagery that's been going on. Simon is different from the other boys, because he is both an independent and a very observant person.
What symbols in, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding are the most important? There are countless examples of symbolism in the book but it was possible to narrow it down to the top three. Piggy and his glasses, the mysterious beast, and the fire. These three examples of symbolism are the strongest examples.
Piggy’s glasses symbolize intelligence and power. In the book, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the owner of the glasses is a boy named Piggy. Piggy is a non-athletic fat boy that has asthma with poor eyesight. Piggy’s cleverness shows when he tells ralph how to use the conch to bring together many children into a single area. Ralph blew on the conch since Piggy couldn’t blow because of his asthma “ A deep harsh note boomed under the palms, spread through the intricacies of the forest and echoed back ” (Golding 15).
"Ralph launched himself like a cat, stabbing, snarling, with the spear, and the savage doubled up." The Lord of the Flies by William Golding presents this character, Ralph, as trying very hard to fend for himself, even if it isn't in a conventional, civilized way. As shown in this example, people have been known to go to great lengths and to do things they would not ordinarily do to survive. For instance, Jack, a main character in the story, attacked another human, brutally and violently hunted an animal, and murdered a living, breathing person he was acquaintances with.
In William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies, one of the characters in the book named Piggy proves himself to be the most civilized person in the book. In the beginning of the book Piggy is only aware of Ralph and himself surviving the car crash which is why he tells Ralph “We got to find the others. We got to do something”(12) The quote indicates Piggy is a civilized person because he is doing the responsible thing by looking for other survivors.
While Piggy faces difficulties due to his looks, he also possesses strength because of his mind. His ability to come up with ideas keeps the society together and running. “‘Ralph!’ Ralph looked up. ‘We can use this to call the others.
A group of boys crash landed on an island, no adults just them. Sounds like fun right? That's what they thought, they discovered many hardships. They elect a leader, Ralph who with the help of piggy, the more realistic and intelligent one of the group. Piggy makes the rules and is always the one to come up with a logical and realistic plan.
A group of boys from Britain are being flown on a plane out of their country because a raging war has erupted and it was no longer safe. As they are flying the plane is shot down in the midst of the war and the boys go crashing down onto a deserted tropical island. The boys regather themselves and realized the situation that they were in. The boys quickly pick a leader and it is a character named ralph, as the story goes on there are many challenges the little group of boys face. Golding demonstrates the theme that we need civilization to tame the savage within us all in a variety of ways throughout the novel.
With absolute power comes absolute corruption, but with limited power comes limited corruption. In the novel Lord of the Flies, the arbitrary need for a leader brings forward strife and competition between characters that desire power. Ralph with his old democratic leadership style clashes with Jack’s unethical style to rule. In the book Lord of the Flies, we learn that eagerness for power is strong enough to break the boys’ fragile civilization, which is demonstrated by the characters Ralph, Piggy and Jack.
A Symbolic Moment Arguably, the conch shell is one of the most symbolic items in the novel; the moment Ralph blows into it, the boys are brought together. It is this pivotal moment that makes Ralph appear to be the clear choice for a leader. It is easy to understand why the boys gravitated towards him, their first sight of Ralph was of him sitting, "the conch trailing from one hand, his head bowed on his knees;" (Golding, 19) a clear image of confidence and strength. The boys are easily swayed by his symbolic power and when it comes time to choose between Ralph and Jack, the majority of the boys rush to support Ralph as their leader. Why did they choose Ralph?
“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.” This quote is said by Peter Drucker. The more effort leaders put in the more effort they are going to get out from the people they are leading. The leader might be dis-liked, but being liked isn’t in the job description. Being a leader might not be that hard, but just because they are a leader doesn’t mean they are good.
The destruction of the conch occurred when the boys had fully lost their innocence and had turned “Savage.” The destruction of the conch took place after Jack decided to leave Ralph and start his own tribe on the other side of the island and coerced many of Ralph’s followers to join him, and this is when the demise of civilized thoughts and order really occurred. “... The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (Golding 181). The destruction of the conch ment the boys had returned to their primitive stages, in which civilization and order didn’t exist, only savagery existed. The conch was proof of the boys being civilized, and on the opposite side of the spectrum, the conch breaking was showing how they had lost all sense of civilization and have become completely savage.
