When being stuck on an island with other people, there is a large possibility of so many things going wrong. In William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, this idea is illustrated throughout the book, from the boys in different ways. Since there is not just one person's fault things did not work out on the island, Piggy’s spectacles, the conch shell, and the signal fire are all part of it. Many things do not work out on the island because of Piggy’s spectacles, the conch, and the signal fire. First, Piggy’s spectacles symbolize intellectualism but led to uncivilization when the hunters stole Piggy’s glasses.
In the book “Lord of the Flies” symbols are found throughout the book. Although there are many symbols, one of the most important is Piggy’s glasses. The glasses represent the last surviving evidence of the rational world. Piggy, the owner of the glasses, has a practical personality allowing him to think as an adult using his civilized mind. Through this, he helps keeping Ralph and himself from becoming like savages.
Written in the symbolistic era of writing, William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, contains many symbols meant to express an overarching theme: the nature of human instincts. Being stranded on an island by a plane crash, a British group of boys have to survive on their own without any connections to the adult world. Described as having a weight problem, poor eyesight, and asthma, Piggy is not your prototypical leader; instead, he is more of an advisor with wisdom and knowledge to help the boys keep order. Similarly, the conch shell represents what civil order was left on the island once man’s essential illness took over. Although there are many symbols and relationships that are shown throughout the book, Piggy’s connected nature to the
J.I. Packer, a Christian theologian, once stated, “Wisdom is the power to see and the inclination to choose the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.” In the novel, Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, a group of English boys are stranded on a tropical island during the time of war. They discover that the island is inhabited and attempt to create their own civilization while waiting for rescue. However, as time passes by, things begin to get out of control and the boy’s own inner savagery quickly consumes them.
As the boys’ discipline fades, the color of the conch also fades, thus showing the fade of order and structure. When the conch breaks at the end of chapter 11, all order is gone and complete chaos arises. Piggy’s glasses are another crucial political symbol in Lord of the Flies. The glasses represent technology as they relate to starting the fire, but since they belong to Piggy, they tend to represent intellectualism as well. Piggy is almost completely blind and is not able to do or see without his glasses.
To conclude, in William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies the loss of certain symbols demonstrate how logic and intelligence are treated in society. Piggy, his glasses and the conch are great
Throughout William Golding’s novel Lord Of The Flies symbolism is played as a major literary element. While most people focus in the conch shell as the only symbol there are many other significant symbols in the story. This was absolutely intentional as proved by Golding as he was trying to develop a theme of Civilization vs Savagery. His use of symbols helped him to achieve that and as far as anyone can tell the most significant symbols in the story, and the ones in this essay, are the conch shell, Piggy's glasses, and the beast. To begin, Golding leverages the conch shell to help his story.
In Lord Of The Flies, William Golding uses many different symbols to show the boy’s development on the island as time goes on. Two of the most important symbols in this book are, the conch shell, and the pig’s head on a stick. The conch shell is used to show civilization and power. The pig’s head on a stick symbolizes loss of innocence, evil and the “beast” in all of the boys. Throughout the novel, the reader’s perception of these symbols tends to be different than the boy’s perception.
