Lord Of The Flies Mask Symbolism Essay

Jack respects Ralph as a leader and another alpha, however deems himself the higher qualified to lead the group; bringing forth a vote for a chief. However, the choir boy followers weren’t strong enough in numbers to counter the seemingly endless supply of little kids that voted for Ralph. After this unexpected result, Jack develops an instant grudge towards his only competition for power. Ralph begins to form a democratic society solely focused on rescue; yet jack has other plans in agenda. Under Ralph’s seemingly boring command, Jack develops other outputs for his primal necessity of dominance. Jack begins focusing on the task of hunting animals and finding weaker beings to prey on. Jack even blatantly leaves the rescue fire to chase after a pig; had he not have done so, the group could have possibly been rescued by the boat passing by during the fire’s absence. Once Jack finally has enough of going in circles with Ralph, he makes the decision to shake off Ralph’s influence and create his own niche. Within Jack’s tribe, lifestyle is greatly different to that of one designed by Ralph. Jack and his followers seemingly devolve into primal beings, as Jack gets his fill of power. Control over others was all that Jack longed for, with a crazed and burning

The need for civilization, innocence and loss of power is shown through the impaled pig's head. In order for the group to survive, animals must be killed in order for the boys to eat. Jack takes on the role of hunter because he enjoys killing living things, as seen when he states, “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” (104) Ralph is a more calm person and does not enjoy killing as much as Jack, although he takes a small part in killing the pig. However, in the end, Jack gains all the power because everyone looks up to him as leader because he attempts to hunt the pig throughout the novel and is successful in the end. “We’ll take the meat along the beach.” “Pick up the pig,” Jack said. (150) Meanwhile, Ralph doubts Jack's abilities to kill the pig, and constantly mocks him about being successful. “He tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up.”(51) Jack proves Ralph wrong and kills the pig. “Jack begins to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling."(58) He celebrates

What do symbols illustrate in novels? In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, symbols are illustrated through people, objects, and colors. In this novel, a group of children are faced with the difficulty of living isolated from society after their plane crashes on a deserted island. With no formal civilization, parents, or rules, the kids have the freedom to do as they choose. Throughout the novel, the boys find and use objects on the island that symbolize something of different importance. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses different objects to symbolize the difference between civilization and savagery.

Symbols in a story allow readers to understand the main message and idea that the author attempts to convey within literature. Often, masks are used to perform, be disguises, and even act as protection. William Golding includes the use of masks in his book, Lord of the Flies. The mask is worn by the ferocious leader Jack Merridew. Jack creates the mask with materials that he found scattered around the island. On his face, he uses black, red, and white charcoal which creates a covering of his face. He uses the mask to become a different being which changes his attitude and changes his conscious. As the novel progresses, the mask terrorizes kids and eventually begins to terrorize the animals and nature that surround the boys. The symbol of the mask in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies begins as anonymity, becomes a protection from guilt, and concludes as savagery.

Ralph represents law, order, organized society and moral integrity. Throughout the novel he is constantly making common-sense rules for the boys to follow. Unlike Ralph, Jack is unkind, caring about no one but himself and how he can benefit.   Jack simply wants to hunt and have a good time.  He makes fun of Piggy, humiliating him, making him feel small and unworthy.  "You would, would you? Fatty.... and Jack smacked Piggy's head" (Golding 78). Jack is a lost boy who begins to discover the evil within him.  When he proposes to the group that he should be the new chief, they do not respond in his favor, and Jack runs away, hurt and rejected.  He swallows his hurt ego and throws all of his energy into the only thing he seems to know how to do - hunting.  He puts on face paint and hides his conscience.  This changes him into a savage, an evil, violent monster. The colorful mask allows Jack to forget everything he was taught back in England.  "The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness" (Golding

Oftentimes authors will use symbolism through the characters in order to represent a larger encompassing theme. William Golding’s book Lord of the Flies is no exception to this pattern—as various characters in the book have such allegorical meanings. In the case of Jack, he could be said to represent the evilness in humanity, proven by three established concepts in the story: the true nature of his hunting tendencies, the progression of events that happen in his dancing rituals, and his interactions towards other symbolic figures. These three reasons, furthered by evidence shown throughout the novel, fit Jack into a role of symbolic evilness (add something here).

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.

Fear and Symbolism make up a big part of the Lord of the Flies book. They co-exist amazingly in this book. Symbols appear everywhere in the book, from the conch to the beast, they all symbolize a part of our life today.

In the “Lord of the Flies,” William Golding uses ordinary items to symbolize bigger universal ideas. These symbols can be seen throughout the text and will evolve as the story progresses. In the beginning of the Lord of the Flies, one of the most frequent topic the boys discuss is hunting and their desire to have meat. However, not a single boy is able to hunt successfully as they are all afraid of killing another living thing. The boys only have a successful hunt when they use the mask. The mask in the Lord of the Flies is one of the many symbols used to communicate Golding’s universal ideas. When the mask is used in the Lord of the Flies the mask serves the purpose to hide the boys from the pigs when they hunt. However, when the text is examined in an allegorical means, the mask can be defined as hiding from oneself, strength, and savagery. The allegorical definition of the mask, proves how the mask does not only hide the boys from the pigs, but also hides the boy’s inner connections with their former selves. The mask in the Lord of the Flies initiates as hiding from oneself, evolves to strength, and ends a savagery.

A few days after the boys are stranded, the way Jack is described shows how quickly he is regressing. Jack is described as "Bent double... down like a sprinter, his nose only a few inches from the humid earth" (Golding 50). Jack is the head of the choir boys and not too long in the book he seems to be growing more animal like. This description suggests that no matter a person's status, everyone has a primitive nature in them waiting to be released. Golding further enforces this belief when Ralph spears his first pig. "Ralph talked on excitedly. 'I hit him all right.'" Ralph is the good leader trying to get everyone rescued and not get caught up in the killing while Jack is supposed to be the immature, animalistic savage. Readers were disturbed when they realized that good people, such as Ralph, can become just as twisted as people like

The boys take meetings less seriously as time progresses, and the world they once knew, “that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away” (Golding, 98). When he finally believes there is a beast, he attempts to show no outward signs of fear towards it. When Ralph is up on the mountain in search of the beast with Jack and Roger, he demonstrates his mindset. Out of desperation to seem respectable to the other boys, he “fused his fear and loathing into a hatred, and stood up” (Golding 135) in front of the beast. Furthermore, being labelled a coward is unfavourable regardless of one’s role in a group for social reasons. Hiding insecurities like these-- presented by the mask of darkness-- with bravery is an expedient way of dealing with the fear this mask presents.

There is something that all people have in common: masks. Whether it is behind a computer screen, a Halloween mask, or makeup, all people have one thing that they hide their true identity behind. At the time, World War II was a furious war filled with atomic bombs and thousands of deaths. Soldiers across the country were putting on their uniform and going out to battle. Millions of people died during this war- and most of them were ordinary civilians. A war this destructive convinced William Golding, a schoolteacher and film director, to not only join the army, but also to write about it. In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses his knowledge of war and humanity to create a book featuring the war inside humans. A major topic he used in his novel to show the darkness in a man’s heart was the theme of masks. The anonymity of a mask is something that is pondered by the characters in the book, especially by Ralph- the athletic and charismatic boy on an island filled mostly with savages. The savagery comes out as a result of the masks worn by the boys on the island. By putting on a mask, the boys were able to let their inner savages come out and commit violence against others. Wearing a mask increases the boy's willingness to dehumanize themselves because the taboos of society are gone, it allows them to let their inner beast out, and the anonymity relieves the wearer of responsibility.

Symbols and characters play major roles in representing power in works of literature. Therefore, an author uses these ‘symbols of power’ to control the characters and the overall course of the work. In Lord of the Flies symbols are both used by the characters and stand on their own. Fire on the island is a dual blade and Lord of the Flies impedes on progression. While these two symbols stand on their own, the characters use and are used by them. Ralph leads the boys to advancement while Jack stands as his opposition, both using other symbols of power to assist them.

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.