Throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies , the author, William Golding, uses many forms of symbolizing in effort to get his readers to get a better understanding of his writing and to get his points of view known. His use of symbolism in his popular novel has a lot of this said symbolism. Three of the most significant and noteworthy symbols that the author had used in this novel consists of the conch, a main character named Piggy’s glasses, and the “beast”. An important piece of symbolism used are Piggy’s glasses. Piggy is an overweight boy who has asthma and bad eyesight but is also very smart and quick thinking. He is constantly belittled and teased by the other boys, “You’re talking too much,” said Jack Merridew, “Shut up Fatty.” (20) Piggy’s glasses are …show more content…
very important to him because without them he wouldn’t be able to see and the other boys decide to take his glasses away from him without asking. “ ‘His specs. Use them as burning glasses’ ... ‘My specs!’ howled Piggy. ‘Give me my specs!’” (38) Piggy’s specs are a symbol of hope for the boys. With his glasses they are able to start a fire and the boys think that if they have a fire, there is a chance that a passing ship will see the smoke and come to rescue them. “Again came the sound of cheerfulness and better heart. ‘And sooner or later a ship will put in here. It might even be Daddy’s ship. So you see, sooner or later, we shall be rescued.’... he went on in the silence, borne on his triumph. ‘There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the island. We must make a fire.’ ‘A fire! Make a fire!’ At once the boys were on their feet. Jack clamored among them, the conch forgotten.” (35) The next significant piece of symbolism that the author used was the conch.
The conch is one of the first pieces of symbolism the author decides to use, it also happens to be one if the most important. The author first introduced the conch as a rare and valuable shell that Piggy found in the sand and decided that it might be useful to the boys. “Suddenly Piggy was a-bubble with decorous excitement. ‘S’right. It’s a shell! I seen one like that before. On someone’s back wall. A conch he called it. He used to blow it and then his mum would come. It’s ever so valuable.”(15) The boys decide to use the conch as a sort of whistle to call any other boys that might be stranded on the island as well. “We can use it to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us-” Piggy says.(15) While having a meeting the boys decide that they need to have a chief. While picking a chief a boy nominates Ralph for the task. “Him with the shell.” “Let him be chief with the trumpet thing.” (21) Because Ralph has the conch, he is perceived as intelligent and a leader since the conch is what brought them all together. The conch gives the boys hope that they might be rescued and return home to their families and
friends. Another important symbol used in the novel was the beast. The beast was a figment of the boy imagination made up of the boy’s fear and their inevitability of some of them becoming savage and losing their humanity. The first time that the beast is mentioned in chapter 2. “He was a shrimp of a boy, about six years old, and one side of his face was blotted out by a mulberry colored birthmark… He was muttering and about to cry…” Another boy answered for him when he didn’t speak. “He wants to know what you are going to do about the snake-thing.”(33) The snake is then described as some of the things that the boys fear such as snakes and that it’s in the dark. “A snake thing. Ever so big. He saw it.” “In the woods” “He says the beastie came in the dark” “He says in the morning it turned into things like ropes in the trees and hung in the branches. He says it will come back tonight.”(33/34) The beast is shown to be a monstrous snake that can change its image. The boys fear was obviously dramaticized and was made out to be an insanely frightful monster when in reality the boy probably saw nothing more than an absolutely normal snake but since it was dark his mind exaggerated the fear to make it much worse. The author does this to show the boys naivety and how since they are children they might believe an unrealistic story. The authors uses of symbolism helps the reader get a better understanding of the characters and their feelings as well as the events going on throughout the novel. Golding made sure that each symbol that he used would have an important meaning behind it, the conch representing power and leadership, the glasses representing hope for the boys and Piggy’s usefulness to the group, and the beast representing the boys fear as well as their potential to become savage and lose their humanity. The author was very careful to make all of his symbolism greatly impact the story so it was inevitable for the reader to notice them.
The meaning behind the conch shifts throughout the story. It begins as a symbol for order and civilization, as exemplified by Piggy when he states, “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us.” , and becoming
William Golding wrote the novel Lord of the Flies to draw attention to the chaos in society during the Second World War. Throughout the novel, there is a large amount of symbolism that gives the readers a better understanding of his ideas and concepts. There are many symbolic objects in the Lord of the Flies that help to expand his perception of the Second World War and his theme of there being a little bit of evil and savagery in everyone. Three of the most important symbolic objects are Piggy’s glasses, the conch shell, and the fire signal. First, of the many symbolic objects in the Lord of the Flies is Piggy’s glasses.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies there are many examples of symbolism. The conch shell represents order, the appearance of the boys represents savagery, and the fire on top of the mountain represents rescue. These examples are all symbols in the book.
My paragraphs proved that Conch is very affective symbol during the book. The Conch represents power because Ralph became the chief with the Conch and he controlled the boys and made the rules that is fair for every one so nobody would be hurt. Conch also symbolizes democracy because it was used to communicate others, and anyone who wants to speak and nobody can interrupt him. Conch shows the unity of the boys because Ralph made the boys work together with peace and making an assembly when needed. The Conch, which is just a shell that we can see at the beach, which became a very important object in the Lord of the Flies which symbolizes power, democracy, and unity.
The conch shell represents democracy, power and stability. When Ralph first discovers the conch shell, Piggy proposes to Ralph that they, “…can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come, when they hear us” (16) and that was the birth of the conch shell. Throughout meetings that are held at the beach, the conch is used as a “speaking stick”. After Jack separates himself from the rest of the tribe, Ralph barges into the camp and attempts to use the conch shell to gather up his former tribe mates. The boys say that th...
When the boys arrive at the island after a plane crash, they are forced to find a way to keep everything in order and under control. “At first they delight in their freedom and in their pleasure of the island”( Saidi, Hasan1). Then the boys begin to explore, Ralph and Piggy find a conch shell on the beach. When Ralph and Piggy first see the shell Piggy says "S'right. It's a shell! I seen one like that before. On someone's back wall. A conch he called it. He used to blow it and then his mum would come. It's ever so valuable--" (Golding15). They use this shell as a symbol of how fragile order and democracy is. The sound from the shell gathers all the boys together after the plane crash. The plane crash seperated them in th...
The conch shell represents power and authority. Whoever has the shell has the power to talk. The conch shows how people use objects to give power, like a crown. "Conch?" "That's what this shell's called. I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking (pg.33)." This shows that whoever holds the conch during meetings gets to speak At these meetings a sense of order is instilled because the boys have to wait until they hold the conch to speak. The conch becomes a powerful symbol of civilization. "By the time Ralph had finished blowing the conch the platform was crowded." (Golding, 32) Ralph shows his leadership abilities as he recognizes the use of the conch. Ralph begins to take leadership over the boys by setting rules as using the conch to let everyone have a turn to speak.
In conclusion, the novel, Lord of the Flies portrays the wicked, deteriorating life as an outcome from humanities inherent magnitude of evil, that is allowed to control individuals once all rules of society are gone. Throughout the story, William Golding utilizes several different articles as symbols to explicate the theme. A few of the objects would absolutely be insignificant in reality and doubtlessly appreciated. However, in this novel, each symbol, the best, pig’s head, Piggy’s spectacles and the rock, are all essential to The Lord of the Flies theme.
The first symbol, which is used all throughout the book, is the symbol of the Conch. The conch was a large shell which piggy had first unearthed on the island. The conch shows powers all throughout the book and always commands respect form the boys due to its importance. The importance and power would best be compared to that of a congregation when a Rabbi removes the torah from the ark, which holds it. The first quote which best shows the importance of the conch is when it is used by Ralph and Piggy to summon all the boys together when they find themselves alone on the island. "The Conch, we can use this to call the others. Have a meeting they'll come when they hear us- (16)." Then again at the second meeting we see how the boys are drawn to the Conch and how it is like a magnet to the boys, which draws them to who ever uses it. "By the time Ralph had finished blowing the conch the platform was crowded (32)." The conch also shows the first idea of civilization and rules. One example is when there is disorder because everyone I talking at once. "Conch, that's what the shell is called. I'll give the conch to the next person who speaks. He can hold when he is speaking (33)." Finally the conch is used for is to show how Piggy does so much to help them and does not get credit for it. It was used that way when Piggy was the first one to see the Conch and Piggy was the one who knew what it was and instructed Ralph on how to use it.
The conch is a symbol of order and government. It is first used to bring the boys together, like a call to survivors from rescuers. Piggy suggests that “[they] use [the] [conch] to call the [other] [boys]” (Golding 10). The
William Golding's Lord of the Flies was an allegory. This means that the novella was full of symbolic characters and objects. One of the many symbols were Piggy’s glasses. William Golding was entailing many things within the symbolism of the specs. Piggy’s glasses specifically symbolize the use of knowledge.
The conch was used and discovered by Ralph who is a character in the book to call a meeting in order for the boys that are on the island to join and work together to get rescued from the island. It is a symbol which had a power that leads the group of boys to civilization that will rescue them from the island. The conch makes a loud noise when anyone blows it, and everyone that is on the island is able to hear it. When Ralph discovers the conch, Piggy who is another character in the book tells Ralph to blow the conch to call the others “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us” (Golding. 17).
In his novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding presents a conch shell representing the order of civilization. He uses this symbol to effectively portray the theme that humans are inherently evil and have savage desires, shown through the decline from discipline and peace among the boys on the deserted island. In the novel, civilization directly correlates to the boys’ past lives in England. Before coming to the island, there were adults present who maintained order by enforcing rules and punishing those who did not follow them. However on the island, the conch, representing this society, is a powerful object that demands the respect of the boys in a similar way that the adults do. As time passes, the conch’s influence over the boys weakens and ultimately all forms of civilization are rejected.
In the Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses a variety of symbols to represent ideas, or abstract notions or conceptions about people, places, and things. A symbol, according to the Webster's Dictionary, is an object that stands for something in addition to its literal meaning. In the book, there is a continual breakdown of society and civilization on the island. During this breakdown, Golding uses symbolism to further explain the process. Some of the things he symbolizes in the novel are the island itself, the conch, the boys clothing, and the violence.
The author, William Golding, shows many forms of symbolism in the novel, Lord of the Flies. Symbolism means use of symbols to represent an idea from its actual meaning. In this novel, Golding uses symbolism from the beginning to the end of the novel. During the novel, these symbols continue to change and give a new meaning. Three significant symbols from the novel include the conch, the fire, and the beast. Each symbol changes throughout the novel and revolves around the evil that is inside people. There is always a beast within when the darkness comes out.