Symbolism in Lord of the Flies
In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the boys who are stranded on the island come in contact with many unique elements that symbolize ideas or concepts. Through the use of symbols such as the beast, the pig's head, and even Piggy's specs, Golding demonstrates that humans, when liberated from society's rules and taboos, allow their natural capacity for evil to dominate their existence.
One of the most important and most obvious symbols in Lord of the Flies is the object that gives the novel its name, the pig's head. Golding's description of the slaughtered animal's head on a spear is very graphic and even frightening. The pig's head is depicted as "dim-eyed, grinning faintly, blood ...
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may be entirely a hallucination, Simon learns that the beast, which has long since frightened the other boys on the island, is not an external force. In fact, the head of the slain pig tells him, "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill! ?You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?" (p. 143). That is to say, the evil, epitomized by the pig's head, that is causing the boys' island society to decline is that which is inherently present within man. At the end of this scene, the immense evil represented by this powerful symbol can once again be seen as Simon faints after looking into the wide mouth of the pig and seeing "blackness within, a blackness that spread" (p. 144).
Another of the most important symbols used to present the theme of the novel is the beast. In the imaginations of many of the boys, the beast is a tangible source of evil on the island. However, in reality, it represents the evil naturally present within everyone, which is causing life ...
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When the story begins, Piggy can see clearly with both lenses of his spectacles intact, and the boys are still fairly civilized. For example, at one of their first meetings, the boys decide that they "can't have everybody talking at once" and that they "have to have ëHands up' like at school" (p. 33). However, after some time passes, the hunters become more concerned with slaughtering a pig than with being rescued and returning to civilization. When they return from a successful hunt in the jungle chanting "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood," Ralph and Piggy attempt to explain to the hunters that having meat for their meals is not as important as keeping the signal ...
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Symbolism in Lord of the Flies. (2011, April 12). Retrieved December 21, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Symbolism-in-Lord-of-the-Flies/97916
"Symbolism in Lord of the Flies." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 12 Apr. 2011. Web. 21 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Symbolism-in-Lord-of-the-Flies/97916>
"Symbolism in Lord of the Flies." Essayworld.com. April 12, 2011. Accessed December 21, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Symbolism-in-Lord-of-the-Flies/97916.
"Symbolism in Lord of the Flies." Essayworld.com. April 12, 2011. Accessed December 21, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Symbolism-in-Lord-of-the-Flies/97916.
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