Hair In Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

In Lord of The Flies by William Golding, dozens of british schoolboys find themselves stranded on an island after an horrific plane crash. As the boys get more accustomed to life on the island, they lose their grasps on civilization and even result to savage tendencies such as murder. Right before the barbarous boys, who were deceived by their power-crazed peer, (Jack) were about to kill their former chief, a navy general arrived to the island and brought them back to civilization. Golding uses an abundance of symbolism throughout the novel to give characters complex and deeper attributes. For example, hair is a major symbol and is used frequently throughout the novel to give us insight on characters and the setting. Golding uses the symbol

As the boys have been on the island for increasingly long amounts of time, their hair grows and they start to have to stand with “one hand holding back [their] hair, the other clenched.” (66) By implying that their hair has gotten so long that they have to “clench” it, Golding is also saying that long periods of time have gone by and they have become more accustomed to the island. Not only is this quote implying that time has passed by, but since hair is also a symbol for savagery, it is showing that the boys have become even more savage. Another interesting occurrence with hair length is the fact that “[Piggy] was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow. The rest were shockheaded, but Piggy’s hair still lay in wisps over his head as though baldness were his natural state and this imperfect covering would soon go, like the velvet on a young stag’s antlers” (63). By making it so Piggy’s hair never grows, Golding is implying that time on the island is not affecting Piggy. It is known that Piggy is the wisest and most rational of the boys, so by his hair not growing Golding shows that Piggy remains the only civilized boy on the island. Golding mentions hair length many times throughout the novel to show how the boys are being changed boy physically and mentally by the