Glasses In Lord Of The Flies

Lord of the Flies is a gruesome, dark and intense novel written as a political allegory by the author William Golding. In this novel Lord of the Flies, there are various significant symbols the most being Piggy’s glasses because of how it allows a logical smart boy to see and perform tasks, it becomes a tool of innovation being able to start fires, and how it leads to the destruction of an island.

Symbols are often used in literature to drive plot, give clues to events in the story, and develop key characters. They have more than one meaning, and in the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding there are three key symbols used: the conch, Piggy’s eyeglasses and the impaled pigs head. These three symbols will be discussed by using specific references to the text as well as examining how they negatively impact the characters in the story.

In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, Piggy’s glasses represent both weakness and power. The symbolism for the glasses progresses throughout the novel.

The boys forget the main goal, being rescued. Ralph repeatedly reminds them, “If a ship comes near the island… we must make a fire” (38). Ralph knows the chances of being rescued are slim, but creating a fire will increase those chances. This decision reveals Ralph’s ability to collaborate with the others in order to get the necessary work done. The fire is a logical idea because is someone sees it they will eventually be rescued. Comparatively, Jack uses his resources when no one knows how to start a fire as he commands, “His specs-use them as burning glasses!” (40). Jack resourcefulness of using the glasses to start the fire not only works, but helps them get rescued, keeps them warms, and allows them to cook. Nevertheless, Jack forcefully taking Piggy’s lenses is a symbol of lack of respect because he takes advantage of Piggy after viewing his vulnerability. Jack uses Piggy’s glasses is resourceful because they can use the lenses to create a fire with the sunlight. Their decisions display their responsibility and how they both qualify to become

Jack stole Piggy’s glasses, and without them Piggy wasn't himself. He could barely see and he couldn't think straight. Ralph decided they needed the fire if they wanted to be rescued and Piggy and the boys risked their lives to go and get them from Ralph. “Which is better—to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is? . . . Which is better—to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?” (Golding. 11) After sticking up to Jack and his pack, the boys were laughing at Piggy, they didn't take anything he said seriously. We see once again Piggy acting as the parent, and coming up with intelligent things to do and say unlike

    To Piggy, the owner of the spectacles, the glasses at first represented the basic ability to see. They were thought no more of than a helpful accessory. “His specs- use them as burning glasses!” (40, Golding)  As the story progressed and the once well-mannered group slowly turned into

One day while one of Jack's hunters were supposed to keep watch over the fire, they went on a hunt with Jack to kill a pig. Meanwhile on the beach, Ralph, Simon, and Piggy are building forts when they realize that a ship is passing over the island. Then, they realize that the fire is out, so they sprint up the mountain but by the time they get there, the ship was gone. At the same time, Jack and the hunters had just come back from the hunt. They see Ralph and know exactly what their mistake was. So, Jack tries to lighten up the mood by saying to Ralph that he should have been there because it was so much fun. Ralph gets very angry at them and says that they could have been rescued if they had been watching the fire. In retaliation to Ralph's anger, Jack takes Piggy's glasses and breaks one of the specs. Then they try to rebuild the fire while Ralph is blocking them, and Ralph doesn't move. (Golding 65-75). "No one, not even Jack would ask him to move and in the end they had to build the fire three yards away and in a place not really as convenient. So Ralph asserted his chieftainship and could not have chosen a better way if he had thought for days. Against his weapon, so indefinable and so effective, Jack was powerless and raged without knowing why. By the time the pile was built, they

In the beginning of the Lord of the Flies we are introduced to two young boys, who have survived a tragic plane crash. The aircraft was an evacuation plane and it was transporting the group of boys out of England. One of the boys named Piggy is trying to catch up to the other boy, Ralph. Piggy is described as being very fat and shorter than Ralph. He wears “thick spectacles” (William Golding 7) and he is the first to determine that they are on an island. Piggy is also the one that knows how to use the conch shell and comes up with the use of it, which is to call everyone else to the beach. He believed the conch created order. Once the conch had been used we are introduced to more boys and they gain interest in Piggy’s glasses. They discover that Piggy’s glasses can start fires and they refer to them as “burning glasses” (Golding 40). The boys also rejoiced when they discovered that his glasses could create the fires. They proclaimed, “His specs - use them as burning glasses!” (Golding 38). The spectacles symbolize Piggy’s intelligence, which distinguished him from the others. Without the glasses Piggy would be blind and he would not know what to do. Although Piggy is portrayed as being physically weak and not having a great chance at survival, he is the only one that seemed to know a few survival skills. He is the one that created the fire, sundial and shelter. Without his glasses he would not be ‘intelligent’. His appearance and personality cause him to be shunned

Piggy’s glasses symbolize reason and innovation throughout the novel; Golding most commonly associates them with the old camp on the beach. Piggy uses his glasses to help the other boys “see”, both physically and intellectually, the best and most reasonable way forward. However, any time they are removed from the beach, chaos is sure to ensue. The first time, when the boys go to the mountain to light the signal fire, Jack and the other boys pry the glasses off Piggy’s face so they can use them as burning glasses. While this does help to start the signal fire so they can be seen by a ship, it traumatizes Piggy since even at this point in the book, Jack scares him. Despite the good intentions for the fire, it soon goes wild and even results in the death of a littlun.

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.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding acquires an elaborate way to develop deeper meanings of each symbols especially fire and Piggy’s glasses.

Singer-songwriter Eric Burdon once said, “Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” In William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, symbols are used to represent a deeper meaning to the novel. Three symbols he used are the conch, the Lord of the Flies, and the island. There are numerous amounts of symbols in the novel, one of them being the conch that Ralph and Piggy found.

Fire, in today’s society, is used for several different reasons including warmth, cooking, and destruction while prescription glasses have mainly one purpose, to help aid in eyesight. But for Piggy, the most rational of the group, and Ralph, the leader of all the kids, fire and a pair of bifocals are solely used for survival. Jack on the other hand, who is the leader of the savages, uses fire to harm and control others around him. Lord of the Flies by William Golding acquires an elaborate way to develop deeper meanings of each of the symbols especially fire and Piggy’s glasses.

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.

Piggy’s glasses symbolize knowledge. The glasses also represent society’s reliance upon technology because humans are sometimes weak. The glasses were created to make Piggy’s eyesight better than before. His life is better with the glasses because he can see, without them I don’t know what he would do. Jack slaps the glasses off of Piggy’s face, and in that