Symbolism in William Golding´s Lord of the Flies

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In his book, Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses symbols to give power and meaning to his novel. Golding uses symbols to illustrate the novel’s main theme, which is the struggle between good and evil. “All human beings have a dark side that can cause the breakdown of individual or community moral standards, if this dark side gains sway over reason and right thinking.” (Henning field, “An overview of Lord of the Flies”.) The usage of major and minor symbols clarifies the complicated subject matter of the book. Others are minor symbols that are often unnoticed. They do not interfere with the plot, but add to and clarify the idea and meaning of the novel. Without the use of symbols The Lord of the Flies would just be another adventure story. Instead, Golding uses symbolism to support and explain humanity’s dark side and how it affects their moral principles.
The major symbols in Lord of the Flies are introduced to clarify the novel’s main ideas. They run throughout the novel and are connected to the plot. The conch is the first major symbol in the novel. When Piggy and Ralph found the shell Piggy shows Ralph how to blow the conch to find out if there were others on the island. This idea is a symbol of Piggy’s intelligence. The conch is described as glamorous, delicate and valuable. The value of the conch is seen later in the story. “If there was no conch, there would likely be no assembly, no tension and no conflict between good and bad and the boys might have remained scattered on the island.” (Halder 139)
The conch is a symbol of civilization since it was used many times to bring everyone together.
It is also a symbol of the order society gets from the democratic process. It symbolizes the need we have for a society with c...

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...ile on the island. However, he also represents a society of war. The boys are rescued from the green of the island that caused them to become savages by an adult who represents a society of war. When they are rescued the boys are no longer “green”. They have seen and become as evil as those in the adult world.
William Golding wrote “Lord of the Flies” after the Second World War. He wrote the book to demonstrate that it is wrong to believe that evil only exists in other parts of the world. It exists in every part of the world including our country. Evil existed in the adult world from which the boys were escaping. It also existed in the world they had created on the island. Through the use of symbolism, Golding has shown that all human beings have a dark side that when not checked can cause a person’s individual or society’s moral standards to disintegrate.

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