Allegory In Lord Of The Flies Analysis

Gaby Brakoniecki

July 28th, 2015

Question 1: In what way is the novel an allegory of The Garden of Eden?

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies offers an in depth exploration of the mind in terms of savagery and civilization. The Bible’s story of the Garden of Eden shows just how easily people can be deceived. Golding’s novel uses religious allegory from the Biblical story. In terms of imagery, characterization, and the overall themes, the novel and the Biblical story can easily be compared, and Lord of the Flies can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning for the Garden.

Both the Garden of Eden and the island the boys landed on seem like paradise for the characters of the story. For Adam and Eve, it is a place where they have everything they need; for the boys, it’s a chance to escape from the rules of society and live freely. In Genesis 2:9, the Garden is described as having “every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. This

can also be used to describe the island the boys were on. There were fruit trees and abundant supplies of food, the mountain in the middle of the island, where much of the story is focused on, and good and evil in the forms of Ralph and Jack.
In addition, the snake in the Bible and the boar’s head in the book both symbolize the temptations of the Devil that can ruin a person.

The snake tempted Adam and Eve to eat fruit that God told them to stay away from. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon about the horrible aspects of human nature, and foreshadows Simon’s death when he says “I’m going to get angry…You’re not wanted…We are going to have fun on this island…” (147). Both Adam and Simon were naïve and tricked into believing everything would be alright.

The themes of both Lord of the Flies and the Garden of Eden show how easily the innocence of a person can be taken away. A person can be tricked into believing something is good for them, but in drastic times, a person can also ignore their common sense and act upon the moment. In summary, the religious allegory used by Golding helps readers realize just how far the human mind can go, and how easily it can be

destroyed.

Question 2: What is the meaning of “Lord of the Flies”?
Lord of the Flies has multiple meanings, but the central theme of the novel is the conflict between the human instinct to put oneself first and the human instinct to act as society wants us to. The conflict between Ralph and Jack is an example of this theme. Ralph constantly had shelter and safety in mind. He believed that staying together as a group would be the only way they could survive. He also had one goal, and that was to keep a smoke signal going. Jack, on the other hand, lived a life of savagery. His main focus was to hunt, not necessarily for food, but because he enjoyed the thrill of it. This is shown in Chapter 2, where Jack is convinced he will kill a pig “next time” and becomes obsessed with the hunt. Later on, it is revealed how Jack’s savage ways gain him the following of every boy except Ralph and Piggy. He becomes the ruler of the boys, and he is “painted and garlanded…like and idol…” (152).
These two very different boys ironically come together at the end of the novel. Jack, who has directed all of the boys to kill Ralph, sets the island on fire in an attempt to smoke Ralph out of the trees. This fire is what gets the attention of a navy ship. Jack’s insane action was completed without judgment, but it actually was what Ralph had wanted all along. Through these two boys, Golding implies that an individual’s mindset can be greatly different than what may be expected. When left to fend for themselves, people will not always live by the rules they have grown up bound too; instead, they may naturally turn to cruelty and barbarism, in a more primal state than anyone is accustomed too.