How Does Golding Use Symbols In Lord Of The Flies

A heart, the most recognizable symbol of love, would be a simple sketch without the deeper meaning of infatuation behind the design. In the novel Lord of the Flies, a group of young boys becomes stranded on an island with no supervision. The author, William Golding, creates emblems on the island to represent the important themes of humanity and show how a group of people without an overarching structure can lead to havoc. Golding uses symbolism to show the different aspects of human nature which either maintain or disrupt order on the island. When these young boys crash onto this tropical island and are left to survive on their own, destruction shortly follows. As the first two boys, Ralph and Piggy, explore the island, they refer to the

Ralph finds a conch shell and calls all the boys on the island his way using its loud calling. Immediately the conch brings everyone together creating the first sign of order. When everyone gets together there is an apparent power struggle between two of the boys, Ralph and Jack. After Ralph is elected chief; he decides that a person may only speak when they are in possession of the conch. Ralph ordered, “And he won’t be interrupted. Except by me” (33) when explaining to the boys the rules of the conch. When someone is speaking while holding this conch, no one is permitted to interrupt them, except Ralph. By possessing this shell, whoever has it is literally holding the power on the island for the time being. When someone holds the conch they are in authority, but with Ralph being able to interrupt anyone at anytime there is still the enforced hierarchy of law and order established between the boys. As their stay on the island goes on the tension between Jack and Ralph heightens, but when Jack speaks with the conch, he still lays it down in a peaceful way. When Jack is asking if they want a new leader everyone says no, but Jack still respected the conch. Golding acknowledged, “He laid the conch with great care in the grass at his feet. The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye” (127).

At the beginning of the novel the fire is the main focus of most of the boys. Ralph preached, “We’ve got to make smoke up there -- or die” (81) when speaking about having a fire lit at all times. The fire becomes less important to the boys throughout their stay on the island, and when the fire repeatedly goes out there is an apparent loss of hope and an acceptance that they will have to live on the island forever. Therefore, the fire symbolizes the boys connection to civilization because as the fire becomes less important their motivation to return home is also becoming less significant in their daily lives. The fire is also a symbol of destruction on the island. At the beginning, a fire that becomes out of control ends up killing one of the little boys. They do not have control over the fires they create and similarly don’t have control over their actions as their stay on the island is prolonged. The fire at its strongest point, encompassing the whole island, occurs when the boys come into contact with civilization again when, “A naval officer stood on the sand, looking down at Ralph in wary astonishment” (200). At its weakest points, however, the boys don't remember why the fire was important in the first place. It shows the optimistic view of being rescued that are gained or lost with the fluctuating importance of the fire to the