William Golding Lord Of The Flies Symbolism Analysis

In William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies, the reader comprehends symbols that go throughout the book. These symbols are key factors which determine the importance of the novel. The symbols are a very important part of the literary content. In order to really follow along and understand the story, the reader must understand these symbols for what they mean as well as how they are used. Some of the symbols include the conch, the island itself, and fire.

the fire symbolizes the hope of rescue and at the end it is the fire blazing all over the forest which attracts the attention of the commander of a passing ship and brings him to the island to rescue some boys. Fire also serves as the symbol of comfort to some of the boys. When piggy lights a fire close to the platform, the twins seem glad as they presumed fire as a source of solace at night. Later in the novel even Ralph recognizes the fire as a source of comfort. Ralph admitted “the double function” of the fire.

The first fire quickly gets out of control and ends up killing a kid. Without the fire they would have no way of being found, no way to cook, or stay warm at night. The fire become a point of savagery. The only way on the island to make fire was with Piggy 's glasses. When Jack 's tribe steal his glasses it shows their dominance.

Little did he know about the sworn enemy he has just made. The first tact he thought of was to make a fire, as a signal to other stray boats of planes to rescue them. Ralph saw the fire as hope, since it died out when no one helped, and when it thrived when everyone worked together.

Ralph says, “The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t keep a fire going? Is a fire too much for us to make” (80). As an effort to show the boys their dire circumstances, he tries to convict them, including himself, of their ignorance. On the contrary, Jack Merridew counters Ralph’s authority with the proposition of thrill and amusement.

Moreover, this shows that the boys recognize and believe in civilization. The boys know that building a fire is a priority and they said, “A fire! Make a fire!” , when they were thinking of ways to escape off the island (Golding 38). While thinking of a fire, the boys started displaying their savage side.

The boys start out by using the fire as a sign for rescue, but the fire ends up burning down the jungle. “A tree exploded in the fire like a bomb. Tall swathes of creepers rose for a moment into view, agonized, and went down again”(46). When lighting the fire the boys can’t control it and ends up setting part of the jungle on fire. Because of this, they not only set their mountain on fire, one of the boys gets burned in the flames and dies.

The fire was also a symbol of civilization, that the boys would survive and get rescued. Fire is quite profound in what it reveals about humans. The fire was the object that the hunters didn’t have, it was desirable because it was limited. The fire brought out the innate greed that humans possess. The hunters weren’t content with asking for fire from Ralph, they were too prideful and savage to be civil in any manner, so they stole it.

William Golding uses many symbols in his novel The Lord of the Flies to create interaction between his characters. Golding’s characters are stranded on an island and one of their first decisions is to build a fire that will be used for creating a smoke signal for passing ships. Golding uses fire to symbolize three things in The Lord of The Flies: hope, struggle, and destruction. To begin with, Golding’s representation of fire as a necessity of hope to being rescued is an aspect that is easily conceivable to the reader, and this is purely demonstrated in the dialogue between several of his characters. During the first meeting the boys decide that they must have a fire in order to signal to passing ships that someone is on the island.

We must make a fire.’” (Golding 37) This quote explains the need for fire and that Ralph has a clear view of what the boys need to be rescued. The other boys do not understand the true importance of the fire since they remain unrealistic in their pursuit of following Jack. Jack is putting all of his focus towards killing a pig because he thinks on the scale of events, that is the more important task to complete, therefore Jack and the boys have lost focus.

People do not want to listen to him and say that it's “his fire” so basically he should be the one to tend to it. Everyone else is worried about meant and going swimming. He is confronted with the challenge of survival, and instead of playing and trying to solemnly have fun, he makes a responsible choice to try and get rescued. To do this he lights the fire to give off smoke and draw a boat to the island. The responsible choices can lead to them being rescued, while having fun will not get them anywhere.

Without Piggy this would have never been possible as his glasses help create the fire. As Ralph is in control the fire stays on and there is a hope that he boys will act civilized and stick together, but once the fire is turned of the only one that still has a desire to get rescued is Piggy as all the other boys attempt to change their life style and accept their fate. The signal fire thus functions as a kind of measurement of the strength of the civilized instinct remaining on the island. Ironically, at the end of the novel, a fire finally summons a ship to the island, but not the signal fire. Instead, it is the fire of savagery the forest fire

The first fire is built to signal ships for their rescue; it symbolizes hope here. Once the fire is burning brightly, the boys “paused to enjoy the freshness of [the fire]... they flung themselves down in the shadows that lay among the shattered rocks,” (41). The fire comforts the young island inhabitants because it lets them relax with the hope of getting rescued. The boys on the island start to lose hope, even Ralph. Ralph tells Piggy “let the fire go then, for tonight,” (164), showing that he has stopped caring about getting home.

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.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, Golding uses many quotes and Imagery to represent nature of mankind and society. Golding uses lots of analogies to try to foreshadow you about the real life. Throughout the book Golding uses many of the character and the setting to really make the point go across the whole story. As the story is told you begin to think humans are inherently good but nature and other people can turn you evil. In the beginning of the story jack is trying to get the group together to form so type of group which really means they are trying to set up a government. "We 've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we 're not savages" (Golding 42), says Jack. Jack realizes that there needs to be a order and a type of government