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Symbols in Lord of the Flies
Significance the symbols in the novel lord of the flies
Symbols in Lord of the Flies
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Kezia Tan Mr. Baldwin Writing 1-5 2 December 2016 Religious Allegory in Lord of the Flies Religion is the essence of human nature and it develops through knowledge. William Golding came from the World War II and began teaching. He writes the novel Lord of the Flies to describe the lack of society and to look back at the cause of human nature. The name of the novel Lord of the Flies is a symbol of Beelzebub, a name for the Devil, which introduces the meaning of decay, destruction, discipline and fear. William Golding represents a religious theme by describing the island as the Garden of Eden, the appearance of the Beast, and Simon being a resemblance of Jesus Christ. Originating, the island was innocent until the first act of the plane crash, …show more content…
which is considered a “scar” on the island. The island refers to as The Garden of Eden as it designates the innocence of the island gradually being destroyed which parallels to destroying human innocence. Chapter 1 describes a boy walking towards the lagoon as he sees “All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat.” (Golding 7)The island is no longer undisturbed after plane crash destroys the surroundings. Ralph and Piggy were introduced after the plane crash. The presence of Ralph taking of his clothes also represents innocence as it refers to Adam and Eve’s nudity in The Garden of Eden. The Lord of the Flies describes nudity before knowledge and sin as Ralph “undid the snake-clasp of his belt, lugged off his shorts and pants, and stood there naked, looking at the dazzling beach and water.” (Golding 10) This shows that he is innocent and he does not care that he is naked because there are no adults on the island. The author is trying to say that humans were innocent before discovering more things. The beast represents the evil and darkness in all men but at first, the beast is only the boys’ imagination. One small boy suggested the “snake-thing” but Ralph disagreed and said, “You couldn’t have a beastie, a snake thing, on an island this size,” (Golding 36). In the bible, the snake represents the devil. Jack and his hunters start hunting to kill the beast until they discover the man with the parachute up the mountain. This is the start of immorality, violence and the evilness in them. Jack and his hunters wait for the beast, they offered the pig’s head as if offering something to God.When Simon came back, the boys mistaken him as the beast and murders him, which made them feel guilt and lead them to more violence. Only Simon realized that everyone on the island is afraid of the beast because it exists in all of them.“They were savages it was true; but they were human…” (Golding 185) At the end of the book, Ralph realizes that he had lost his innocence and he will never be the same because he had learned that evil looms within all human beings. Towards the end of the book, Simon climbs up the mountain and meets the Lord of the Flies.
This represents Jesus Christ seeking for the truth during his 40 days in the wilderness compared to Simon discovering if the Beast is real. Jesus was tempted three times by the devil in his journey which goes the same to Simon. The idea of the Satan is known as the Lord of the Flies in the novel. He threatens Simon, “You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding 143) At this point, Simon is having a conversation with the Lord of the Flies, which assimilates to Christ’s communication with the devil during his 40 days in the wilderness. He starts thinking about the consequences if he tells the boys about the truth. Simon decides to tell the boys about the truth, they kill him as a result of having to discover the truth. Simon sacrificed his life to find out if the beast is real just like when Jesus Christ sacrificed and was hanged on the cross. As Simon’s dead body was being sent away into the open sea, “the water rose farther and dressed Simon’s coarse hair with brightness”. (Golding 154)The bright things around his head represent angels. Jack and his hunters kept hunting for the beast even though they had killed it. After Simon’s death, the boys thought he was still alive which also refers back to Christ’s
resurrection. William Golding wrote his novel Lord of the Flies to explain the religious allegory using parallelism between Garden of Eden and the island, the beast in all humanity, and Simon being the Christ-like symbol. The novel end of course with Ralph anguished because of the permanent mark that evil had left in each person's heart, an evil he just suspected. Golding influences the reader to look deeper into humanity. He wrote his novel in a chronological order, explaining how little boys develop on the island without adults. Lord of the Flies states the point of view that human nature includes evil and savageness by clarifying how little boys turned out in the end. Work Cited Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Essex: York, 1980. Print.
D.H. Lawrence once said, “This is the very worst wickedness, that we refuse to acknowledge the passionate evil that is in us. This makes us secret and rotten.” Sir William Golding tells about the evil and sadistic things that can be expressed throughout humanity in his novel, Lord of the Flies. Lord of the Flies is a translation of the Hebrew name for Satan, Beelzebub. In the novel, William Golding portrays the boys’ descent from civilization to savagery through the following symbols: the conch shell, Piggy’s glasses, and the Lord of the Flies.
”Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Now out of the terror rose another desire, thick, urgent, blind. Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Again the blue-white scar jagged above them and the sulphurous explosion beat down. The littluns screamed and blundered about, fleeing from the edge of the forest, and one of them broke the ring of biguns in his terror. Him! Him!” (Golding 152) William Golding’s allegorical parable novella, Lord of the Flies, takes place amidst a fictional World War Three. The story begins as group of british choir boys are fleeing England due to the threat of a possible catastrophic nuclear attack. But when every adult on-board is killed by an ensuing plane crash, given the boys current predicament,
Through the story Simon acted as the Christ Figure. The death of Simon symbolized the loss of religious reasoning. As the boys killed Simon they had let out their savage urges and acted in a cannibalistic manor. Even after the death of Simon Jack and his tribe did not feel any penitence to what they had done, killing to them had become second nature.The circle became a horseshoe. A thing was crawling out of the forest. It came darkly, uncertainly. The shrill screaming that rose before the beast was like a pain. The beast stumbled into the horseshoe."Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" (Golding 141).In this quote a figure had crawled out of the forest and the ring had opened to let it inside. Mistaken as the beast by the Jack's tribe, Simon was beaten to death. After the group disbanded for shelter from the storm. The storm subsided and the tides moved in and out, Simon's body was washed to sea. Here because of the storm, the darkness and fear the boys became hysterical. They acted savagely not knowing what they were doing. The boys did not take a second look to what their actions were. They had let their malicious urges control them. He cam-disguised. He may come again even though we gave him the head of our kill to eat. So watch; and be careful (Golding 148). Here Jack is warning his tribe about the beast. Not caring or taking any notice to what had taken place with Simon. Jack or his tribe does not feel any remorse for the murder they had committed, whether they realized that or not. To Jack and his tribe what they had done was a pretentious accomplishment. A death could go by their eyes blindly.
It’s one of the most famous stories to ever exist, the story of how two people changed what defines us as humans. It’s the story of Adam, Eve, a serpent, and the unbecoming of mankind, the Fall of Man. This iconic account has been the premise for many works over the centuries. Today, Lord of the Flies by William Golding is considered one of the most influential novels of our time, not only for its adventurous story of stranded boys on a lost island, but also because of its allegorical tale of the true fault in man’s soul. William Golding leans heavily upon the Biblical account of the Fall of Man to highlight man’s depravity in his novel, Lord of the Flies.
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is tale of a group of young boys who become stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes. Intertwined in this classic novel are many themes, most that relate to the inherent evil that exists in all human beings and the malicious nature of mankind. In The Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the boys' gradual transformation from being civilized, well-mannered people to savage, ritualistic beasts.
The Lord of the Flies knows Simon and only Simon, has the power to dispel the boy’s fear of the beast because only he understands. Without their fear, the beast would
Have you ever thought about six to thirteen year olds ever acting like savages and turning into a serial killer? After reading Lord of the Flies, this is exactly what happened. Ralph, Piggy, Jack and other kids cash land on a gorgeous island with leaving no trace for the world to find them. Ralph tries to be organized and logical, but in the other hand, Jack is only interested in satisfying his pleasures. Just like in the short story, The Tortoise And The Hare, Lord of the Flies, stands for something. This novel is a psychological allegory, the island, as the mind, Ralph, the leader, as the ego, Jack, the hunter, as the id, and Piggy, an annoying little boy, as the super ego. As we read Lord Of
The title, Lord of the Flies, refers to the pig’s head that was placed on a spear and worshiped by the young boys on the island. In other words, the boys have chosen to believe in a fake deity, much like the people of Israel, who built golden calves to worship. And along with these fake gods comes along sacrifices, such as the head was for the beast as Jack stated, “This head is for the beast. It’s a gift” (137). Additionally, the lord of the flies is also known as Beelzebub, an Egyptian god that was linked with the 4th plague, as one of the ten plagues God sent over Egypt through Moses. To further suggest a biblical allusion, Beelzebub is deemed a demon within The Bible and is one of the many vividly described embodiments of evil within the book: “At least Simon gave up and looked back; saw the white teeth and dim eyes, the blood – and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition” (138). Golding effectively uses the lord of the flies as a biblical allusion because he is able to exploit the underlying tone of subtle evil that begins to surface within the boys, through their worship of a disgusting thing. However, the allusion loses its power if the readers were unacquainted with The...
Imagine a group of young boys who have just crash-landed on a deserted tropical island with no adults or supervision. William Golding showed in his ground breaking novel Lord of the Flies, what may happen in just those circumstances. In his very complicated and diverse novel Golding brings out many ideas and uses many literary devices. Above all others though comes symbolism of three main important objects being the conch, fire, and "Piggy's" eyeglasses. Through each of these three symbols Golding shows how the boys adapt and change throughout the novel. These symbols also help to show each of the boy's ideals on a variety of elements from human nature to society and its controls. All three of these symbols also change and are one of the most important elements of the story.
...religious allegory. He depicts a story in which the boys are stranded on an island and need to fend for themselves. However, instead of focusing on rescue and building a fire, the boys ultimately shift their priorities to hunting and killing. They turn a once beautiful and majestic island into a place of terror and evil. Additionally, they maul and kill their only hope of ever changing, Simon. Lord of the Flies is reminiscent of the television series “Lost.” Just like in Golding’s world, “Lost” is staged on a remote far away island after a plane crash. However, these people are not children. They are adults, which makes the story even more chilling. These adults eventually succumb to murderous acts and violence, further proving the point Golding sets out to make. Humans are inherently evil, and without any system to keep them in line, they will destroy the world.
Simon is a Jesus figure, Ralph and jack are like Cain and Abel, and the boys start to have a Pagan religion and treat the beast like a god; supporting the theory that Lord of the Flies can best be read as a religious allegory. Golding was trying to demonstrate that references to God and religions are everywhere. The need for religion and hope causes many people to show religious symbols in their art. Everyone worships something; everyone needs religion and religious symbols.
The novel “Lord of the Flies” was written by William Golding to demonstrate the problems of society and the sinful nature of man.
Golding drives the point that the instinctual evil within man is inescapable. At one point in the book, when the Lord of the Flies is representing all evil, this theory is stated as, "The Lord of the Flies was expanding like a balloon" (Golding 130). Along with this idea is the religious symbolism that is used for ineffectively confronting the evil. At a point in the book, Golding has Simon, symbolic of Jesus Christ, confront the Lord of the Flies. This is a pig's head on a stick that is imagined to talk and represent the evil in all humans. Simon tries to act and spread the knowledge of this evil to others but is killed. This is a direct reference to the death of Christ, alluding to the Holy Bible.
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies shows man’s inhumanity to man. This novel shows readers good vs. evil through children. It uses their way of coping with being stranded on an island to show us how corrupt humans really are.
Symbolism is defined as the representation; treatment or interpretation of things as symbolic. In society and in particular, literature, symbolism is a prominent component that helps to illustrate a deeper meaning then perceived by the reader. Symbolism can be anything, a person, place or thing, used to portray something beyond itself. It is used to represent or foreshadow the conclusion of the story. In William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies symbolism of the main characters Ralph, Jack and Simon plays a very important role in helping to show how our society functions and the different types of personalities that exist. An examination of Simon as a symbol of good, Ralph as a symbol of the common man, and Jack as a symbol of evil, clearly illustrates that William Golding uses characters as a symbol of what is really happening in the outside world throughout the novel.