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Symbolism in Lord of the Flies by Golden Williams
Symbolism in Lord of the Flies by Golden Williams
Symbolism in Lord of the Flies by Golden Williams
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The last symbol that is important to the novel Lord Of The Flies are Piggy's glasses which symbolize science or creativity, but could also break your will when they're gone. Shortly after everyone meets they start to get jobs and say what they need, "Jack points suddenly ,' his specs use them as burning glasses'"(Golding 40). This is what the glasses give to the boys, creativity to make fire while using them as magnifying glasses to get a spark. If there wasn't any glasses it would take a long period of time to make a fire. After Jack split up form Ralph he stole Piggy's glasses, '" That's them', said Piggy.' They blinded me'"(Golding 150). Piggy can no longer see because his glasses are stolen which leads to Jack being more superior. Piggy
later on gets killed and his glasses break which means that Ralph and his group don't have any plans for stopping Jack. Piggy's glasses are a key object in the novel because of how it affected the boys and their survival. But when they get taken away terrible hints happen and eventually they become useless.
When Piggy’s glasses break in half, it symbolizes the boy's descent into savageness. Glasses, by definition¹, are “a pair of lenses used to correct or assist defective eyesight for an individual with vision problems.” Obviously, these glasses are only effective when the lenses are not broken, and this principle also applies in The Lord of the Flies. In The Lord of the Flies, the goal of the boys is to survive, and get rescued off of the island. To get rescued off of the island and therefore survive, Ralph decides that the boys need a fire, to make a smoke signal so passing ships or planes can spot them. They use the lenses of Piggy’s glasses to start this fire. When Jack lets this fire go out when he is out hunting for a pig, Ralph gets very angry, because the passing ship could have rescued them. This leads to the first fight as a result of the boy's’ newfound savageness. This fight leads to Piggy’s glasses breaking for the first time. Piggy’s glasses break again when Jack’s group steals them in a bid to start a fire of their own. “I just take the conch to say this. I can’t see no more and I got to get my glasses back.
In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding the meaning behind symbols pivot throughout the story. The conch first representing civilization and order becomes meaningless and is destroyed, while Piggy’s specs originally standing for the capability of fire and escape shifts into a symbol of power. Finally, the rescue fire began as a beacon of hope for escape, but is molded by Jack into a weapon of mass destruction. These symbolic values all change due to Jack’s manipulation of the boys’ mindset. The boys regress from wanting to return into civilization to embracing
In the beginning of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Piggy is seen as a weak and cowardly character, allowing the boys to walk over him. Throughout the book, he becomes more confident. For example, one instance where Piggy is seen as insecure is at the first meeting on the island. Piggy tells Ralph, another fellow survivor, that he doesn’t want anybody to call him Piggy. Later, after using a conch to summon the boys to the area, Ralph reveals Piggy’s name. Instead of insisting that Piggy is not what he wanted to be called, the book states that “he went very pink, bowed his head, and cleaned his glasses again” (Golding 21). This change is negative because Piggy is them to call him by this name he didn’t want.
Thesis Statement: William Golding represents the value of Piggy's glasses in Lord of the Flies through clarity, hope and intelligence, even though the glasses are broken, they still work.
First, of the many symbolic objects in the Lord of the Flies are Piggy’s glasses. His glasses symbolize many different things in the novel. First they symbolize hope. Piggy’s specs are what the boys are using to light their signal fire, and without their fire, there is no hope for them of ever being rescued from the island. Therefore the only hope that the boys have of leaving the island is in the balance of the condition of Piggy’s glasses. Without them being in a good enough condition to use to make a fire, then there would be no hope of them ever leaving the island. Second, Piggy’s glasses represent civilization. Piggy’s glasses are a small piece of civilization they can cling to. When the glasses are first cracked, it is a symbolic drop in the civilization of the boys on the island. Jack punches Piggy and the glasses fall off his face, only one of the lenses are broken which represents half of the destruction of civilization. But when Piggy is crushed by the boulder and his specs are destroyed, it represents the total destruction of their civilization and the boys fall into savagery and begin to hunt down Ralph. Lastly, Piggy’s specs signify his ability to “see”, both literally and figu...
The kids' fear of not being rescued from the island led the group to the top of the mountain to make signal fires. They used Piggy's glasses in order to make that fire:
In the most dire situations, some children are able to put aside their childish behaviours and become a mature adult figure, one who takes the right actions and makes mature decisions. According to the National Institutes of Health, only a certain few children are able to act maturely in situations; the other completely normal children are not able to take it seriously. Even though some people think that a child who acts adult-like is not any different than the other children, being adult-like can be very important and useful in many situations, including ones without any parental supervision. In William Golding’s most memorable novel, Lord of the Flies, the most intelligent character – an overweight boy named Piggy – makes valuable efforts and contributions to help others. When Piggy finds himself stranded on an island with many other boys, he steps up to be the most mature and sensible one. Considering it is among the last abilities to mature in the brain, Piggy has remarkable reasoning and problem-solving skills for a twelve-year-old boy. Despite the fact that Piggy is unpopular with many of the big kids on the island, he always attempts to get his adult-like knowledge and opinion across. Piggy’s love for
The glasses that Piggy wears are also very important to the boy’s survival and getting off the island, as the glasses create fire. Along with fire comes warmth and smoke. The smoke is a very vital part as the ongoing ships can see the smoke and then the ship can rescue the boys.
"Piggy saw the smile and misinterpreted it as friendliness. There had grown up tacitly among the biguns the opinion that Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labour." (Golding 68)
Even though Piggy does not agree to lend the other boys on the island his glasses to start the fire it, it brought hope. In the book Ralph suggests, “ His specs-use them as burning glasses!” (40). When they use the glasses to start the fire all the boys are excited and filled with new hope. PIggy's glasses truly brought hope because they planed to make smoke with the fire so they could be rescued. Without piggy and his glasses
Savagery is brought out in a person when they lose everything else. Lord of the Flies by William Golding shows us that when there is a lack of societal boundaries, animalistic behavior is what will follow. Humanity is destroyed with lack of guidelines or rules.
Piggy's glasses become an important symbol representing the social order of the boys as they try to determine how to lead themselves. Although not a leader Piggy is the voice of reason as he mends the early splits between the boys by way of compromising. Of all the boys on the island it is Piggy who can seen as the most symbolic.
What is the significance of Piggy in the novel The Lord of the Flies? The author William Golding uses the character of Piggy to relates to certain themes in the novel. He is linked closely with civilisation, time and the conch which itself represents order. As savagery becomes more intense in the novel, Piggy begins to suffer more injustices and eventually loses his life speaking out against it. Piggy is described by Golding as 'short' and very 'fat'.
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.
These glasses are very symbolic. They don’t just represent Piggy, but all the boys and how they must survive on the island although they do not realize its importance yet. When Piggy first came to the island, his glasses were spotless and perfect with no damage, just like the boys were. Each one came to the island as someone else and left completely changed. They represent intelligence and intellectual pursuit. Piggy is probably the brightest of the stranded boys on the island in Lord of the Flies, and his glasses help to set him apart from the others. He’s symbolized as a grown-up figure that has common sense. He is the most rational boy in the group; making his glasses also symbolize logical reasoning within society. But he was completely disrespected as Jacks says in the novel, “ ‘you’re talking too much fatty.’ ” (Golding 18) The glasses don’t just represent Piggy and what he stands for, but for everyone else as