What Does The Beast Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

In the novel Lord of The Flies, a group of boys are in a plane crash and become stranded on an island. The novel takes place during World War II. The boys gather at the shore of the island and find a conch shell. The boys vote on Jack as the leader and split the group into two parts; the group and the choir. The group, including the lil uns, make shelter on the shore while the choir goes to hunt the pigs living on the island. As the novel continues, the boys become violent and fight over who the leader of the group should be. The choir becomes separated from the rest of the group so they can be lead by who they wish. There is a beast on the island that the boys believe is coming to get them. Before the groups separate, a group of boys goes

The first is the beast the boys believe is on the island. Before the first character Simon dies, he kneels in front of one of a head of a pig in a stake. The pig head was a gift to the beast from the choir. He begins to hallucinate that the pig is speaking to him. “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”(137). The beast is then introduced to Simon as the lord of the flies. The lord of the flies isn’t a real beast, but rather the violence the boys have for one another and their fear of the island. “They were black and iridescent green and without number; and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned”(138). The Lord of the Flies is symbolic of the need for the boys to be in control and leading. This makes the beast because the fear and violence they feel makes the beast scarier to the boys. Simon then gets ill and is eventually murdered by the choir and Jack and Piggy during one of their fire rituals. The second item with symbolic meanings is the conch. The conch is what the boys first find when they wake up on the island. The rule is that whoever holds the conch is the leader and has the right to speak. This is symbolic for the way the boys want to be rulers and be in control. It’s a sign of leadership that all the boys think is important, which causes conflict later on. Ralph holds the conch and is therefore the leader but Jack wants to be the leader so he can hold the conch and have the final say in what