Symbolism In Lord Of The Flies

As reading becomes a more modern form of entertainment for many people in current times, many readers often overlook the symbolism, and underlying stories in literature. William Golding’s Lord of The Flies, is a perfect example of this. Inside Golding’s story are many forms of symbolism, and meaning. Lord of the Flies is a story about a group of young English boys in the middle of WW2. When their plane crash lands on a deserted tropical island, and the pilot is killed, the boys must learn to function and run a society by themselves. This piece of literature questions the true nature of mankind, and how man behaves in the state of nature. The items and people of this story symbolize and represent many different aspects of human nature, and

In Lord of the Flies, a young group of boys learn to survive on a tropical island. This island is meant to represent society as a whole. Yes, it will provide the basic necessities of life, such as food and water, but it will also cause many hardships and troubles. Many people in a society will give others items that they need to become successful in life. For example, adults choose to educate children so one day they will grow up and obtain a good job, and keep society running. On this island the boys must learn to help each other if they all want to survive. “Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them down to the endless, outstretched hands” (Golding 56). As the boys live on the island, they eat

The boys also take a conch from the beach, and use it as an item to give power. Whoever is holding the conch, is the person who has the right to speak. The conch is an item whose symbolism is commonly debated over. As the story progresses, the conch begins to lose its authority, and the boys pay less and less attention to those holding the conch, and by the end of the story, the majority of the children on the island do not respect the conch, or anyone holding it. The conch is used to represent authority, and matureness. Who ever held the conch is the leader at that time. “But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch” (Golding 22). Those with the conch held power, that no one else held. In modern days, the conch can be compared to the government, and the people in it; The people that have money, power, and authority. Near the end of the book, the conch is shattered. This is also the point in the book where all sanity is lost by the boys, and they are reduced to nothing but savages. By losing this form of authority, the boys are no longer governed by anything on the island. Due to this, the island is reduced to a society of chaos and havoc. This can be compared to an anarchy. When the government loses its