Lord Of The Flies Microcosm

Lord of Flies Essay Assignment

Lord of the flies explores many aspects of human nature through a microcosm when a plane full of young boys crashes on an island. It has been argued that this book has many symbols that include glasses, a conch and fire. All of these objects are directly tied to the book, but this book can be symbolized by an object that it failed to mention. Both the island and its many evils as well as the society of boys that live on it can be represented by an apple. The apple is a symbol for the savage boys and their survival on the island in William Golding's Lord of the Flies.

The apple symbolizes the island, both in the cycle it experiences and its influence on the society of boys. Golding's description of the island's daily cycle is a representation of many other of life and nature's fundamental cycles such as that of an apple. An apple at one point is a perfect ripeness, at which it would be the most

enjoyable to eat. As time passes it starts to get a little mushy and soft. One may still choose to eat it, but it has lost a lot of it its appeal. This is a symbol of the island as time passes from morning to mid-day. As described in the book:
The first rhythm that they became used to was the slow swing from dawn to quick dusk. They accepted the pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air, as a time when play was good and life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten. Toward noon . . . the heat— as though the impending sun’s height gave it momentum— became a blow that they ducked, running to the shade and lying there, perhaps even sleeping. (60)
Golding describes morning as a pleasurable and happy time where all is good, but once afternoon comes the boys are overwhelmed by heat and try to get time to pass quicker by sleeping. It is not a time of play, nor a time of sadness. It is merely an unpleasant time the boys aren't particularly fond of, much like the mid-stage of a decaying apple. As the apple continues to decompose it starts to become rotten. At this stage no one would enjoy to eat the apple. As the cycle of the island continues, it becomes night, which is a bad and evil time,
Then, at the end of the afternoon; the mirage subsided and the horizon became level and blue and clipped as the sun declined. That was another time of comparative coolness but menaced by the coming of the dark. When the sun sank, darkness dropped on the island like an extinguisher and soon the shelters were full of restlessness, under the remote stars. (61)
The boys become restless and unable to sleep because of their fear of the night. Their day, which had started off on a high note was being consumed by the "coming of the dark". This cycle can be represented by a ripe apple becoming black and rotten.
An apple symbolizes the island when a bite out of the apple is taken, symbolizing a death on the island.

Once a bite is taken out of an apple it is more vulnerable. If you were to drop it on the ground with a piece missing, the apple would collect more germs and dirt than if its skin had been intact. The first death on the island allowed the boys to become vulnerable. This is shown after Piggy's realization, “ 'That little ’un [sic] that had a mark on his face–where is–he now? I tell you I don’t see him.' The boys looked at each other fearfully, unbelieving. "(47) The fear the boys experienced after the first death ultimately lead them to be influenced by the evilness or beast of the island. The more deaths that took place on the island , or the more bites out of the apple, increased the susceptibility of corruption of the boys , or bacteria getting on the apple. The deaths caused the boys to be infiltrated by the evils of the island, comparable to the bites taken from the apple lead to it being infiltrated by dirt and

contaminates.
The apple symbolizes the dysfunctional relationships of the boys and their road to savageness. An apple is at its healthiest when attached to a tree. An apple attached to its roots grows and thrives. As soon as an apple is picked from its tree, it slowly starts to go bad. This represents the boys whom needed to be with their family, or their roots, in order to grow up and succeed. As soon as the boys were separated from their parents, they slowly started to lose their humanity. These boys would have been better off with their families, especially the little ones, "They obeyed the summons of the conch, partly because Ralph blew it, and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority; and partly because they enjoyed the entertainment of the assemblies." (61) The little ones relied on Ralph to be an adult figure for them because they needed an adult to raise them and teach them right from wrong. An apple only grows when it is on a tree. The boys tree was their family, so once separated they couldn't grow up and started to go bad, losing their civilization.
When an apple is cut up it browns, which is symbolic of the boys splitting up into separate groups. If an apple is left whole it will last longer. Once it has been cut, it only has a couple of hours before it turns an icky brown colour and is no longer appealing to eat. The boys would have been better off sticking together, because their split lead them to turn on one another and caused all the unfortunate happenings in the book, such as:
Jack made a rush and stabbed at Ralph’s chest with his spear. Ralph sensed the position of the weapon from the glimpse he caught of Jack’s arm and put the thrust aside with his own butt. Then he brought the end round and caught Jack a stinger across the ear. They were chest to chest, breathing fiercely, pushing and glaring. (196)
This quote shows the two leaders, Jack and Ralph, having turned on each other. By being enemies the boys are making surviving on the island an even bigger challenge. As said by Ralph," 'I’m frightened. Of us.' "(174) Clearly the boys are making their experience on the island harder because they treat one another as a threat. If they had stuck together, they wouldn't have had as many problems and losses. This can be compared to an apple that is better left whole.
Golding's lord of the flies can be symbolized by an apple because of its act of decaying and browning, much like the boys turn from civil to savage, and the island's cycle of good to evil. An apple is able to represent the need to stay as a whole and the benefits of staying attached to your roots. It is because of these reasons that an apple can symbolize both the island and society of boys in the book Lord of the Flies.