What Does The Pink Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of school-age boys' crash
land on a deserted island. By themselves. The island appears as paradise upon their first arrival, until the horrors of the island and human nature is unveiled. As the boys' regress to man's state of nature, the island implies the dual-nature of humanity. The island's paradise imagery conceals a darker nature which alludes to the allegorical reflection of humanity's dual-nature of evil which is masked by a good facade.
The imagery on the island is contradicted by the symbolism of the butterfly, alluding to a deeper-nature. Golding describes a cavern on the mountain as “filled with a blue flower, a rock plant of some sort, and the overflow hung down the vent and spilled

lavishly among the canopy of the forest. The air was thick with butterflies, lifting, fluttering, settling”(28). The beautiful flowers and butterflies create a picturesque scene of happiness and beauty. Simon, Ralph, and Jack view a glimpse of the beauty during their first exploration to climbing the mountain. Their first impression of the island is of beauty and purity, which contradicts the use of the butterfly. Butterflies symbolize change. Use of the butterfly as an object of beauty is foreshadowing a change of the island's outward appearance. It is a warning against what haunts humanity’s true nature. After the murder of the sow“ Even the butterflies deserted the open space where the obscene thing grinned and dripped”(138). The butterflies left because their warning was left ignored. Rape imagery was used during the murder of sow to symbolize the loss of innocence. Murder and rape are unforgivable acts, from which there is no going back. All depravity could have been prevented with the butterflies warning. The butterflies left as a consequence of the descent into savagery, therefore, butterflies symbolize the duality of human nature.
The dark constitution of the island is unveiled using the symbolism of color.

Golding states, “The most usual feature of the rock was a pink cliff surmounted by a skewed block; and that again surmounted, and that again, till the pinkness became a stack of balanced rock projecting through the looped fantasy of the forest creepers” (26). The color pink is a symbol for goodness throughout the novel. Pink is used to describe the conch, the symbol for order and democracy. The conch is the connection of the boys to civilization, the device that establishes democracy as order. Order is a quality of maturity and The rocks projecting out of the earth are also described as pink. The color is used to describe the rocks to cover up the evils that hide beneath the surface of the island. Pink is a pretty disguise, meant to give the allusion of goodness. However, later in the novel “The breeze hauled the figure through the blue flowers, over the boulders and red stones, till it lay huddled among the shattered rocks of the mountaintop”(96). As we see the true horror of the island, pink is no longer used. The dead parachutist is a sign from the grown-up world, except he is dead. His death signifies the boys' loss of civility. The island around the boys is reflecting their isolation from civilization, and descent into savagery. Pink is not describing the rocks, instead red is used. Red is an extreme color symbolizing violence, demonstrating the island true colors. The island is no

longer attempting to hide its evil nature, the duality is fully exposed in the color symbolism.
Humans are evil by nature, the imagery and diction surrounding the island creates duplicity.

Golding states,” On the other side of the island, swathed at midday with mirage, defended by the shield of the quiet lagoon, one might dream of rescue; but here, faced by the brute obtuseness of the ocean, the miles of division, one was clamped down, one was hopeless, one was condemned, one was-“(111). The very beginning of the novel focuses on the paradise, and promising beginning to a new life on the island. However, first impressions can be deceiving, and often are duplicitous. On one side of the island, hidden beneath a pink mirage is the truth. On the other side, the duplicity evident, revealing the nature of humanity and the island. Without the mirage, the truth is clear. The duplicity on the island is an allegory of the duplicity within human beings. The island attempts to conceal its secrets with a paradise facade, just as humans use societal norms to create mannered, and respectful people. Etiquette is a social construct to hide the evil-nature of humans. The duplicity on the island reflects the dual-nature of

humans.
The destructiveness of humanity’s dual-nature is reflected through the island and its
ultimate desolation. The havoc on the island at the hands of the boys is a warning against succumbing to the temptation of humanities evil. Resisting the temptation of evil requires maturity, which most of the boys lacked. Golding alludes that evil destroys good, when the pure Simon is killed in a murder at the hands of the boys. However, the essentially evil island is also destroyed by the boys. The island is destroyed in act that brings the boys closer to the mature world, a return to civilization. Golding conveys while man is essentially evil, evil can be destroyed if the choice is made to eradicate it. Humanity’s duplicity is not an atrocity, but what keeps humans from succumbing to evil.
Works Cited
Golding,William. Lord of the Flies. Penguin Group, 2006.