Figurative Language In Lord Of The Flies

The word ―power is often used to show dominance over others or display leadership over a group. Does power change people’s actions? To answer this question, a large majority of Lord of the Flies revolves around power and how certain characters rise and fall due to its influence. Throughout the story, William Golding, demonstrates that when an person has power their actions change.

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies presents a story of a group of boys who become stranded on an island together, and in their struggle to survive; some begin to fight for power. Having power makes them feel in control of their situation; however, this power struggle quickly begins to consume them. Golding uses the power struggle between Ralph and Jack, the two main characters, to illustrate the power struggle between good and evil.

In William Golding’s “Lord Of The Flies” Novel, symbolism is a very important element of the book, Many symbols show how the boys on the island are slowly becoming savage and losing their civility.

The novel Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding is a very iconic book in my opinion. This novel consists mostly of symbolism. Lord of the Flies talked about the relationship of teenage boys who survived a plane crash together. The boys are all on their own and struggling. They encounter many incidences that comply symbolism. A couple of the acts of symbolism are the beast the boys kept imagining, Piggy’s glasses, and the conch. The boys are all afraid of the beast, Piggy’s glasses demonstrate the fact that he saw everything more clear then the boys and how he started the fire. Lastly, the last of the most important symbolisms in the novel is the conch, showing the civilization and order.

In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, power is a notable theme that can be found very frequently throughout the novel. In the book, the theme of power is found in the form of items that revolve around the protagonist of the story, Ralph, and the antagonist, Jack (Burns 1). Ralph and Jack use these items in order to establish power in the group of boys for their own reasons (Burns 2). With Ralph, he uses items, which represent order in the story, to establish a democracy on the island, while Jack uses specific items that represent evil to create a monarchy out of Ralph’s democracy (Burns 1). The items used by Ralph and Jack in Golding’s novel will be later explained in the essay on how they represent power, what their meaning is, and their purpose in the story.

The symbols in the Lord of the Flies all change meaning throughout the novel. As the boys change and develop, the symbols change with them. Some may become more positive or more negative and some may change meaning completely. Ralph, Piggy, and Jack all adjust to being stranded on the island differently and therefore react to and treat the objects on the island differently. With Jack’s development into savagery throughout the novel, his carelessness is evident in his lack of acknowledgement of symbols that are important to Ralph and Piggy who look at this experience more logically and optimistically. One symbol that changed dramatically throughout the novel is the fire. The fire in the Lord of the Flies is introduced as a symbol for hope, develops into destruction and is finalized as a representation of salvation.

Throughout this magnificent novel, William Golding collaborated civilization with good and savagery with evil. The English boys were civilized, humane, and educated as they slowly acclimatized themselves to a vulgar, primitive, and swinish life in the jungle. The rivalry between civilization and savagery is represented between the two main characters Ralph and Jack: Ralph represents tranquility and leadership, while Jack represents boorish and lust for power.

Authors can display their views of humanity through use of literary devices. In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, the use of diction, point of view, and figurative language help to develop a theme of how humanity is innately evil. Golding’s diction is a good indicator of how he views humanity. The boys always speak in colloquial language with a lot of slang words mixed in.

William Golding uses symbolism to show that all people want power. At the beginning of the novel, one of the boys exclaims, “Let him be the chief with the trumpet thing” (22). This signifies the beginning of realizing what the conch means to them. The conch is the symbol of power from this point on. The novel also uses the pig head/Lord of the Flies as a symbol of power. As the Lord of the Flies is talking to Simon, he says, “‘I’m warning you. I’m gonna get angry. D’you see? You’re not wanted. Understand?

“No one said anything but the faces turned to Ralph were intent. He flourished the conch. He had learnt as a practical business that fundamental statements like this had to be said at least twice, before everyone understood them. One had to sit, attracting all eyes to the conch, and drop words like heavy round stones among the little groups that crouched or squatted. He was searching his mind for simple words so that even the littluns would understand what the assembly was about.

This passage probably the most powerful one in the whole novel. In this specific passage, which is also the second to last one in the book, Ralph realizes that yes, he is being rescued and saved but that he has changed a lot and he will never be the same person again. Ralph also became aware of the fact that he lost his innocence in that island, and learned about the evil that hides inside every human being. The three literary element in this passage are figurative language, theme and character development. This paragraph has figurative language because ralph said the island was scorched up, comparing it to dead wood. Character development in my opinion is the most important literary element in this passage. Ralphs attitude and personality

Lord of the flies is a story about a group of british boys, ages from about twelve and under, that are stranded on a tropical island after a plane crash. They elect a leader, Ralph, since there isn't any adults around. Jack wants to be leader also, so one-by-one he lures the other boys in and turns them into savage hunters. Piggy is Ralph's advisor and also the brains of the group. He is chubby, with poor eyesight, has asthma, and provides the group with a way of making fire. He got the nickname Piggy by a group of bullies in his previous school. He is the intelligent one, he was the first one to suggest that they should blow the conch to gather all of the other children. Piggy is a complex character because he has conflicting motivation. He

Lord of the Flies has symbols throughout the story, each character brings a different point of view. Piggy, Ralph, and Jack take a leading role with all the boys, although they vote Ralph in charge both of the other boys take a leadership position. Goulding uses the boys to show the faults of mankind and the roots of all evil. Four symbols Goulding used in the novel were: Piggy’s glasses, the Conch Shell, The Beast, and Simon’s hiding place. Therefore, the symbols show the true character of the boys who are stranded on an island.

Lord of the Flies: William Golding has said that his novel Lord of the Flies was symbolic from the beginning until the end when the boys are rescued. During the course of the novel these symbols are constantly changing, giving us a new interpretation of the island society.

William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, includes many metaphors, often incredibly dark ones, in his writing. In Lord of the Flies he has some very important metaphors about human nature. He shows this very strongly with many characters. Specifically, Jack, Piggy, and Simon; the human representations of savagery, reason, and human goodness. The book is named because of a pig that gets killed and gets its head put on a stick. The pig head attracts flies, hence the name, Lord of the Flies. Throughout the book there are many symbols but, I believe the pig to be the strongest symbol that truly shows the depths of human nature through the traits of many characters in the book according to their personal relationship to the pig. The pig shows, in more ways than one, how there is a beast inside of all of us, it just takes longer for some to let it out.