Symbols In William Golding's The Lord Of The Flies

The Lord of the Flies

Discuss the Extensive Use of Symbolism in the Novel

William Golding’s timeless classic, The Lord of the Flies, uses symbolism all throughout the novel. The most prominent symbols are actually hidden within his characters. The novel displays human nature at its worst, and shows us how easily the human mind can be altered. The Lord of the Flies has many themes and hidden and not so hidden symbols within its pages. Golding’s three main characters display the themes and symbols so that we may understand them better.

Piggy is a fat, far-sighted school boy with asthma. A real name for Piggy is not mentioned, the boys on the island simply call him by his nickname. As for symbolism, Piggy symbolizes maturity, intellect, and

Jack is a symbol of evil, cruelty, and savagery. He terrorized Piggy, fought with Ralph, and fought with any who opposed him. He usurped Ralph’s role of leadership, and split the group. In chapter eight, on page one hundred thirty-five and one hundred thirty-six, Jack and his hunters were, well, hunting. “Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife. Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted all over his hands”. This is proof that Jack is cruel, and has become a savage. He then proceeded to put the sow’s head on a pike as a gift to the beast. These boys probably range from six to thirteen years old, and they are acting like total savages. We have Jack to thank for that. They evil really shines through when he intentionally told others that there indeed was a beast. Just so that he could make himself seem brave and heroic. He scared the boys on purpose to make himself look good. Jack proved himself a symbol of evil and savagery again in chapter twelve on page one hundred ninety-two. Samneric tell Ralph that Jack and his hunters “sharpened a stick at both ends”. Jack doesn’t say this himself, but it’s the idea. The idea, or the fact that Jack intentionally wants to behead Ralph and put his head on a pike shows that Jack has sunk to the bottom of a deep hole. A deep hole of evil, and savagery that he cannot escape from. Therefore, Jack is a symbol of evil, cruelty, and savagery.

William Golding’s timeless classic, The Lord of the Flies, uses symbolism all throughout the novel. With the most prominent symbols being hidden within his characters. These symbols and themes and the way they grow throughout the novel really let us see how horrid the human race can be when left to their own devices. But after all, isn’t there a little bit of evil and cruelty, intellect, order, etc. inside all of our funny little