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How Does Golding Use Symbols In Lord Of The Flies

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Lord of the Flies

William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, was born on September 19, 1911. He died on June 19, 1993. In his life, he attended Brasenose College at Oxford University, and in 1935 decided to become an English teacher at Bishop Wordsworth’s School in Salisbury (William Golding - Biographical). After five years of teaching, in 1940, he joined the Navy. With his war experience and background of teaching English to rowdy, young boys, it later inspired him to write his novel, Lord of the Flies (William Golding - Biographical). The novels he writes reflect on his time spent in war. He published Lord of the Flies, his first novel, in 1954, and received a Nobel Prize in Literature (William Golding - Biographical). Lord of …show more content…

Golding uses informal contractions and slang. For example “littluns” (59), “dunno” (115), “D’you” (124), and “P’raps” (148). Imagery is used a lot throughout the novel. Golding’s descriptive words really paint a picture in the reader’s mind of what is going on. “A child had appeared among the palms, about a hundred yards along the beach. He was a boy of perhaps six years, sturdy and fair, his clothes torn, his face covered with a sticky mess of fruit. His trousers had been lowered for an obvious purpose and only been pulled back half-way. He jumped off the palm terrace into the sand and his trousers fell about his ankles; he stepped out of them and trotted to the platform” (17). Personification is used in Lord of the Flies too. “A blur of sunlight was crawling across his hair” (15). The sun is a lifeless object but was given a human trait, therefore, is an example of personification. The biggest, most important literary devices used in the book, is symbolism: The conch, the fire, face paint, the pig hunts, the island, and the boys themselves becoming …show more content…

The novel demonstrates how society is changed and the way it can change one’s character over time. When fear on the island comes about, it creates unreasonable, foolish behavior. This shows how human nature relies on the society in which one lives in. With Golding’s usage of allegory, it keeps the book interesting and meaningful to the characters in the book and the reader reading the novel.
Lord of the Flies is an educational novel that teens, as well as adults, can learn from. They will gain knowledge about the human nature of good and evil. Throughout the book it is clearly understood what happens with the loss of control; how the characters turn on one another. There are lessons the boys learn in the book like responsibility, respect for one another, maturity, and leadership. Savagery is used to inform the reader how society can change someone. Rules of society cease one from being evil, but when there are no rules, evil comes out and can hurt the ones you thought were

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