Lord Of The Flies Fire Symbolism Analysis

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.

Lord of the Flies is often claimed to be an allegory of modern society. While this is true, Golding’s intentions in writing this novel are much deeper. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies provides an enlightening insight into the true nature of human beings; along with why people refrain from acting upon the evil that resides within them. He presents these ideas through symbolism within the novel and it proves effective in many ways. Through symbolism, Golding can unfold the excellent plot of his novel, while subsequently sharing his ideas on the relationship of mankind and society. Golding uses the beast, the conch shell, and Piggy’s glasses to symbolize the human impulse towards ‘savagery’ and the social constructs put in place to prevent it.

Golding’s inclusion of fire/smoke at key moments in the novel helps develop it as a symbol to reinforce the idea that savagery subdues civilization. We see these savage acts by Jack and his hunters in chapter ten. While Jack is sitting with his tribe somewhere on the island far from Ralph and his tribe, they realize that they have nothing to light the fire with. Before this, Jack and his hunters had no interest in lighting and watching the fire. This all changed now that they have more meat and are becoming pure savages together. They decided that attacking Ralph and his tribe will get them what they want. “He was a chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear. From his left hand dangled Piggy’s broken glasses” (186). Jack and his hunters’ decisions demonstrate that savagery can make people do horrible things.

Fire is a symbol that cannot be described in one word. Fire represents destruction, death, hostility, unpredictability, and the potential for limitless violence. Fire, however, also has a good side to it. Fire can be health, hospitality, control, food, shelter, light, and strength. With these characteristics in mind, fire has a number of different connotations. Many of these connotations can be found in one book. Fire, in William Golding’s book, Lord of the Flies, is a complex symbol, representing anarchy and the darkness inside of us, civilization and the light in all of us, and hope, the constant motivator for our survival.

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.

In the beginning of the Lord of the Flies, the fire is used as a form of hope for rescue and survival. When the boys first arrive on the island, Ralph decides that rescue should be their main focus. The boys build a signal fire to attract any passing ships. He puts Jack and his hunters in charge of keeping the fire going. One day the hunters let the fire burn out. When a ship passes without seeing the fire, Ralph panics because they have lost a chance at being rescued. Golding describes the aftermath of the ship passing, “The fire was out, smokeless and dead; the watchers were gone. A pile of unused fuel lay ready” (Golding 68). When this incident occurs, Ralph

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

In Conclusion, the conch, the fire, and piggy’s glasses are all examples of allegory in the novel lord of the flies by William Golding. The conch embodied a tool that they used to call meetings within the boys on the island. Another thing was the signal fire which they used to get rescued from the island. Last was piggy’s glasses which symbolized science, smartness, and also

The conch, glasses, and brains are all symbols in Lord of the Flies by William Golding. In this novel, a group of school kids crash into a deserted island and fight wilderness, fear, and themselves to survive. Piggy, being one of the most vital characters in their survival, is often disrespected and overlooked. This is persistent throughout the novel, and can be attributed to his weight and nerdy appearance. Generally, Piggy means well, and tries to help the boy’s survival on the island. Piggy, an extremely complex and intelligent character, contributes to the boy’s survival by using logic and brains.

Symbolism is a very important factor in many books. The use of symbolism in William Golding’s novel The Lord of the Flies is the most essential aspect to the function of the story. At first glance you may not think the symbols are very important, but with some in-depth thought you can see how it is necessary to explain the microcosm of an island.

Now that Jack is the new leader, he became increasingly greedy and mean and exiled Ralph and Piggy from the rest of the group and left them with nothing, except the symbolic origin of fire, Piggy’s glasses. But instead of using fire to divide the group they really needed everyone to come together to create a controlled fire so they can get off the island. While Ralph and Piggy were away Jack tried to create a signal fire, but instead he created a bonfire that ended up burning a quarter of the island down. Piggy walks up to Jack and told him (because he was mad): “‘You got your small fire all right.’ ...the boys were falling still and silent, feeling the beginnings of awe at the power set free below them” (55). Jack knew they needed a fire, but in reality Jack did not understand how destructive a fire can be, and ended up killing one of the members of the group with the fire he started. With the group divided and life in danger, the symbolic meaning of fire is displayed in this quote because it demonstrates the order and or chaos that is on the island and how nearly all of the social structure on the island could be lost as quickly as the time it takes to snap Piggy’s glasses in half.

Lord of the Flies has more symbols than just the ones in this essay. Goulding shows the

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, three significant symbols throughout the novel include the conch shell, the beast, and the Lord of the Flies. These symbols not only aided in the development of the characters but also in their rescue. By the time the boys are rescued the meaning of each symbol has either been diverted or given a new interpretation.

From the first page of the novel we meet Piggy. He is a fat child that wears glasses and is considered an outcast to all the other children. The first thing Piggy questions is “Where's the man with the megaphone?” This reveals that piggy realizes the need for authority. In life, glasses were made to give people the ability to see, and to “see” is also a metaphor for knowledge. In the novel Piggys glasses represent knowledge and insight on what's really happening. Piggy's glasses arent only important to Piggy, as they let him see, his glasses are also important to everyone else on the island because they create fire. In chapter 2 the boys were trying to light a signal fire to be rescued, “His specs- use them as burning glasses.” They then used Piggy's glasses as a tool to light the fire.

In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding tells a story about how kids have crash landed on an island during World War II. The main protagonist is Ralph, who is put to lead the group of kids with his companion Piggy which is later broken apart by the antagonist, Jack. The theme of the novel is that all humans are born with the characteristics of evil and good. Golding uses symbolism throughout the novel to show the importance of objects. He symbolizes the conch, the fire, and the jungle. The conch is symbolized to be order and civilization. Golding represents the fire to be hope, rescue, comfort, and destruction. The jungle is symbolizing the fear of the unknown.