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The Lord Of The Flies Identity Essay

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The true identity of a person or object cannot be seen until a person reveals it. William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies follows 4 main characters, Ralph, Simon, Piggy, and Jack as they uncover these identities. A plane full of British schoolboys is shot down during a war and crash lands on an island; the boys must group together and survive their fears and themselves. Golding’s appropriate choice of symbols, the conch, Piggy’s glasses, and the Lord of the Flies, accurately represents the society of the boys and how they view themselves and others. These symbols can be seen where the conch represents an orderly society, Piggy’s glasses represent science, and the Lord of the Flies is the inherent evil in man. The conch plays an imperative …show more content…

Baker disputes the symbolism of this image “The sow’s killing and erection symbolizes the release from the blood taboo”. This quote proves Jack’s group is ultimately untied from society. There is no outside force like parents, policemen or laws from the normal society to stop them. They are completely savages. Baker also mentions “The dripping head is an image of the hunters savagery”. This quote shows how the brutal killing of the sow directly relates to the hunters savagery, their cruel nature of slowly killing the beast and laughing and enjoying it. They don’t mean to kill this animal to survive but rather enjoy having blood on their hands. Lastly, when Simon discovers the head in the forest and has “a talk” with it, the Lord of the Flies mentions “Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill… You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you” (Golding 147-148) This proves the beast which everyone is afraid of is just a disguise, and the boys should be afraid of each other, as man is inherently evil. The corruption and evil in the boys is shown by the Lord of the Flies. It shows us the boys savagery and their corruption by how brutally they killed the

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