Allusions In Lord Of The Flies

William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, has been regarded as a masterpiece in the world of literature. This adventurous tale mixed with its frightening experiences arouses a sense of uncanny and even supernatural evil. But why is this? What impacting literary device does Golding use to bring out the terror of human darkness in his novel? Digging through the novel, it is a fact that William Golding uses symbolism to allude to religious archetypes that can be found in the Bible. This is exactly the function of the allegories used in this novel; it enriches the text depending on the different circumstances depicted in the novel. These allusions truly expand the readers view upon the situation in which the stranded boys are in. This respected

author uses setting, characters, a Christ-figure, and a direct allusion to Adam and Eve, to bring out the theme of his novel.

William Golding creates many symbolic settings to help emphasize the biblical allusions he incorporated into the book. In one case, The Garden of Eden is alluded to. Many of the events that took place in Goldings novel can be compared to the incidents that occurred in The Garden of Eden. For example, Golding describes the island with having striking scenery, calm weather, and filled with fruit. In the Garden of Eden from Genesis, Eden is described almost identically. “The breezes that on the lagoon had chased their tails like kittens were finding their way across the platform and into the forest.” (pg.40) It seems as if it almost an untouched paradise, such as the one in the story of Adam and Eve. In both stories, the paradise becomes abused for their resources and no longer is as perfect as it was.
Another example of Golding's use Biblical setting is the description of Heaven and Hell represented on page 230. Phrases like “great bulging towers” and a “pearly stillness” everywhere seem to be a description of heaven. Yet, moments later the description turns to a negative connotation representing Hell as it describes the island with having a “tormenting heat” (pg. 230). As shown here, the comparisons between the settings shown in the Bible and the settings shown in Lord of the Flies are almost inseparable.

Golding uses one of the boys to represent a core part of the Bible, a Christ figure.

Simon is used as a symbolical character to represent a religious hero such as Jesus. Like Christ, Simon is innocent, pure, and kind; there is no innate evil within him. An example of this is when he feeds the littluns, whom nobody cares for anymore. “Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands” (pg.78). This is line from the book correlates to how Jesus, in Mark 6:41, hands out bread. “And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all.” Another critical action Simon takes is when he shares his meat with Piggy on page 104. “Simon, sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it” This quotation shows how much Simon cares for others. Not only is Simon's kindness relate to Christ, but so does his loneliness. Both are outcast by others because of what they believe. Simon is teased by the other boys for being weird and undecipherable. The point in the novel when Simon feeds the littluns fruit shows exactly what the boys thought of him. “The littluns watched him inscrutably over double handfuls of ripe fruit” (pg.78). All the kind things Simon does is

confusing to the other boys, who don't understand why he does it. For example, the time that Simon gave some of his meat to Piggy, led the twins to laugh at him. “The twins giggled and Simon lowered his face in shame.” (pg.104). The biggest comparison between Christ and Simon is the ultimate sacrifice made for humanity's redemption; death and crucifixion. It was a brutal and cruel killing for Simon as it was for Jesus. “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (pg.219). The depiction of the death of Simon was also very similar to that of Jesus. It was peaceful and divine, as shown in page 169, “The water rose farther and dressed Simon’s coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble. The strange attendant creatures, with their fiery eyes and trailing vapors, busied themselves round his head. The body lifted a fraction of an inch from the sand and a bubble of air escaped from the mouth with a wet plop. Then it turned gently in the water”. Simon was a core part of the book because he showed the kindness and morality that was also shown in Christ. Golding characterizes Simon in this way so he can give readers an ability to easily understand the theme of his Lord of the Flies.

Golding produced characters and conducted them to say specific phrases that connects and corresponds to the Bible.

The sow's head on a stick is a prominent example of this.The Lord of the Flies is compared to Satan because of it's role in the story. The sow's head evokes sin among all of the boys on the island. Identically, Satan evokes sin among all of humanity. The Lord of the Flies also represents temptation just as Satan is said to be a form of temptation in the world. The Lord of the Flies is also a direct translation of Beelzebub which is a symbol of pure evil and death. In the novel, Simon is tempted by the sow's head as it mocks him, calling him a “silly little boy”. and threatens him to not “try to escape” the evil within himself (pg.158). In Matthew 4:1-4, it says, “After 40 days and 40 nights of going without eating, Jesus was hungry. The tempter came to Him. He said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” The “tempter” is another name for Satan, who tries to place a seed of doubt in the mind of Jesus. For example, he questions Jesus' goodness with words like “If you are the Son of God...” while the Lord of the Flies tempts Simon by saying “We are going to have fun on this island”

(pg.207)