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Important Symbols in Lord of the Flies by William Golding

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In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, he uses unique elements to symbolize many concepts throughout the story. The two most important but differing symbols used throughout the novel are the Conch and Sow’s head symbolically used by the author to demonstrate the transition of good to evil as the darkness of savagery slowly begins to powerfully overtake the boys’ mental concept of their civilian nature that they were born into. Both symbolically represent a certain importance and power to the boys as they fight to maintain order and civility on the island while trying to contain control over the group of young boys as they begin to abandon all ties to their once civilized life and mindset that they once knew. Isolation and daily struggles to survive on the island lead to the transition to killing and becoming more barbaric. The taste of killing and power becomes an overpowering obsession that the boys cannot consciously control.
Lord of the Flies is a novel using different elements to show symbolism of different people in society and their reactions when cut off from the world and left to survive on their own. The conch and sow’s head are used as power over the group of boys.
Jack Uses the conch to try and keep everyone working together, while Jack uses the sow’s head to threaten and show that meat and killing is the only importance in staying alive. Both boys have two different concepts and mental thinking of how things should be run on the island. Jack and Ralph’s

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