Symbolism In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Throughout history and literature, symbols have been used to represent the bigger picture or main ideas. This allows the reader to illustrate the symbol in their head and have a much better overall understanding of the book. A number of times during Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he uses symbols to illustrate the boys’ destruction and fall from order into savagery. The regression of the boys’ civilization is evident through Golding’s symbolic use of the conch shell, the signal fire and the beastie. All are critical for expressing Golding’s overall message.

One powerful tool to gain power over an induvidual is minipulation. In goldings novel lord of the flies many characters are minipulated and power changes hand through many characters. The key character that creates power through manipulation is jack. The three ways he uses this manipulation is by violance , food and fear. One of the most powerful forms of manipulation that jack uses in the novel is fear.

Stuck on an island with kids and an unknown “beast” what is it? The story of Lord of the Flies occurs during World War 2 on a deserted island after a plane filled with children crashed and where a new beast takes over . What is the beast? The beast in Lord of the Flies is constantly changing from fear to war then to savagery. So what is the meaning of the beast in the Lord of the Flies?

Civilization means to be a part of a culture, to have a leader who takes power, and to be apart of orderly society. In the novel The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Simon is the most civilized boy on the island because he has the most positive outlook out of every boy on the island, he is insightful of what and where the beast is, and, he is the first to realize most of the problems that occur on the island.

Envision this: you’re a young schoolboy on an island with other boys your age, no parents, and a beast. What could this beast possibly be though? In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, young schoolboys have run away from their homes to fend-off rules and wind up coming in contact with a beast. This beast evolves throughout the story and appears to symbolize a multitude of things.

Usually, when the term “beast” is mentioned, negative connotations are developed. In Lord of the Flies, the meaning of the entire story is determined by the symbolic definition of the “beast”. Lord of the Flies surrounds a group of boys stranded on an island. The presumed idea of a beast materialized and spread amongst the group.

In chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies, William Golding suggests that sickness comes from inside of the boys with his use of diction and imagery. Golding describes the actions of the boys with the words “clamorously” and “demented” during the dance initiated by Jack. When these words, which have evil connotations, are used, they indicate that there is something sick inside of the boys which is reflected onto their actions. Golding’s diction displays the boys’ corrupt feelings. Imagery is also used to describe the sickness inside of the boys. During Simon’s murder, Golding says that “There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” The imagery created here is brutal and monstrous, particularly because of the way Golding

Some of the smaller children, when they first land on the island, begin to dream about a “beast” that haunts them in the night. When this is brought up at an assembly, Ralph rejects it, as do the other boys. Simon pipes up and suggests it may be “only us”. After this idea is challenged by the boys, Simon tries to explain, yet he “became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind’s essential illness” (Page 89). The beast is metaphoric of the crude feral nature within every human, though naturally more prominent in those who act on it willingly. Simon later encounters the Lord of the Flies (a pig’s head on a stick that Jack left as a sacrifice for the beast) who “speaks” to Simon while he is having a brain clot. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon that it is the beast, that it’s inside of everyone. “Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill!” (Page 143) it tells him, reminding Simon that to defeat the “beast”, or evil, within a person is impossible to physically accomplish. It’s as if everyone has a ticking time bomb of malevolence that is kept in check by our moral values and societal standards. When not kept in check, however, individuals with the tendency to act on said malevolence will slowly find the beast inside themselves surfacing. The dark part of every being can be instigated when provocative circumstances deem it so, and when encouraged by a group. We find comfort in numbers, and we tend to do things we wouldn’t normally find ourselves doing simply for the sake of the togetherness. Simon is killed through this very premise, when he stumbles upon the tribal dance of Jack’s hunters. During a storm that frightens the boys, Jack suggests doing their “dance”. What ensues is a ring of chanting and dancing, and the acting out of killing the “beast”, or in other cases, a pig. Simon

Fear is intangible yet has perceptible effects. It plays a significant role in human behaviour. Each individual reacts to fear differently, some overcome it, while others give in to it. In William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” the theme of fear is discussed and it becomes clear that fear has the power to take over not only one’s mind but also control one’s actions.

“It was simply what seemed sensible for me to write after the war when everyone was thanking God they weren’t Nazis. I’d seen enough to realize that every single one of us could be Nazis”, as stated by William Golding. William Golding, the author of the fiction novel, “Lord of the Flies” believes that people can lose sight of who they once used to be, altering themselves for better or for worse. For example, by writing this book, he is able to demonstrate his thoughts through the main characters, Jack, Piggy, Ralph and Simon. Golding uses Jack and Roger to embody how civilization and society is breaking apart throughout the war, and how anyone can become twisted, or a Nazi. Through Simon, he displays how the light of humanity Simon brought

The beast is first introduced to the boys early on in their time on the island when the crash acts as a scar to the boys and there is still a state of innocence in everyone. Piggy illustrates the boy with the mulberry-colored birthmark fears to the others (as he is too shy to speak on his own) his discovery of something else existing on the island to the entire assembly, “Tell us about the snake-thing...Now he says it was a beastie...Beastie?...A snake-thing. Ever so big. He saw it ... In the woods … He says the beastie came in the dark ... He still says he saw the beastie. It came to him and went away again an’ came back and wanted to eat him-- ...He must have had a nightmare” (35-36). Considering how innocent and civilized the boys are at

It is implied that when Jack convinces the boys to murder Simon that he knows the beast is just a figment of their imaginations. Despite this, Jack instills fear within the boys that the beast is still alive. “I expect the beast disguised himself.”(145) Here, to keep himself in power Jack tells the boys the beast is still alive despite knowing the truth. He uses his perceived knowledge of the beast to give himself an advantage over Ralph. Jack’s manipulation even is used to justify the death of Simon later. Simon is brutally murdered but Jack claims that the beast is just taking a different form rather than acknowledging the group’s wrong. The book suggests that Jack knows of the murder of Simon“This head is for the beast. It's a gift.”(146) In this instance Jack tells the boys that he somehow has control over the beast. This shows how Jack uses the beast to draw the children towards him as the leader of the group. He always desires to rule over the boys and the beast is his scapegoat to do

Throughout the novel of Lord of the Flies, William Golding provides a profound insight into human nature. Golding builds on a message that all human beings have natural evil inside them. To emphasize, the innate evil is revealed when there’s lack of civilization. The boys are constantly faced with numerous fears and eventually break up into two different groups. Although the boys believe the beast lives in the jungle, Golding makes it clear that it lurks in their hearts. The message of inner evil is portrayed throughout the book by the destruction of the conch, terrifying beast, and character developments to establish the hidden message throughout the novel.

In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, there are many symbolic concepts within the novel such as the beast, and the pigs head. Golding uses these concepts to portray to the reader his idea that when humans are left without rules or organisation they will break from a civilised manner and become savages allowing evil to over take them.

In Lord of the Flies, Golding explores the idea that human nature, when left without the regulations of society, will become barbaric. As one of the prevailing themes in his work, the dark side of human nature is represented through the novel, not only in symbols and motifs, but in his characters as well.