Symbols of Chaos: Golding's Lord of the Flies

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Order/Hope into Destruction in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies
William Golding’s, ‘Lord of the Flies’, is a powerful piece of literature that teaches important perspectives on the human nature and mind. In the story, the boys plane is shot down by the the military in which it lands on a deserted island. After this event, the boys’ decide to create a civilization on the island until they’re rescued. Golding paints a realistic image of evil, hope, and order expressed through the three items: the Lord of the Flies, the fire, and the conch during World War 2. The boys believe these items will assist them, however, they end up all tearing them apart in the end: the symbols all appear to be beneficial to the situation but eventually lead to their demise. Golding effectively uses the literary device symbolism to develop the theme in the novel that chaos and destruction can occur in the most peaceful places.
The Lord of the Flies is meant to be a peace offering to the beast, but symbolizes the boys’ fears and inherent evil pushing them to savagery. Although, The Lord of the Flies isn’t evident at the beginning of the novel it soon shows up as a peace offering to the “beast.” Responding to the elusive “beast” Jack says, “‘This head is for the beast. It’s a gift,’” (Golding 137). In …show more content…

By using symbolism to develop the story, Golding shows his readers that the island is a place of evil and changes the boys from civil to savage. The end of Golding’s story shows the order and organization on the island dying along with Piggy and Simon, causing chaos and destruction to Ralph and the others. Even after many years, Golding’s book still holds the same message, the human nature is the same in everyone and chaos and destruction can be caused by this human nature even in the most peaceful

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