Lord Of The Flies Symbolism Analysis

One example of how the conch symbolizes civilization is when Ralph blows the conch for a meeting and all the boys crowd the platform. Ralph knew they could not have everybody talking at once so he made a rule with the shell and everyone had to obey it except Ralph. “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking” (Golding 33).

These masks, which are used by Jacks followers called ‘the hunters,’ are made of clay paint. The evilness of the boys is clearly shown when they wear the masks. It is almost as if an infectious disease is spread upon them; they lose all sense of civilization. After Jack paints the mask on his face for the first time, it is clear what it does to him. “He began to dance and his laughter became a blood thirsty snarling. “He capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing of its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.” (Golding 64). This not only shows the cruelty of the mask, but it also shows how it opens Jack into the world of being a savage. Also, Golding mentions the colors of Jack’s first mask as being Red, White, and Black. These colors symbolize “violence, terror, and evil.” (Golding).

Jack transforms from a proper, orderly schoolboy to a violent savage. The transformation does not happen immediately when Jack lands on the island, but eventually, as he discovers he loves to inhumanely hunt. One crucial moment of Jack's descent into savagery occurs when he paints his face for the first time, “He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger.” (Golding 63). He is anonymous. He doesn’t recognize it as himself; being in a group makes some people lose touch with their personal moral beliefs, and his face is covered so that a stranger would not be able to tell if a bunch of the young boys were together they could most likely not be able to identify them because of their facepaints. That made Jack feel

It may have taken millions of years for humans to evolve enough to create the sprawling civilizations known today, but it only takes a few months for a group of civil, educated boys to regress back into savagery. In his novel Lord of the Flies, author William Golding depicts a group of young British boys getting stranded on a deserted island sans adults. The boys must look out for themselves, forming a basic governing system and trying to survive. But the challenge soon proves too much to handle, and order deteriorates. William Golding conveys the universal theme of civilization vs. savagery in his novel Lord of the Flies using the literary elements of plot, setting, and characterization.

After unsuccessfully trying to take away Ralph's power Jack states, “I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs.” (Golding 145). This quote holds significance in Jack’s struggle for power. Jack finally found the power in himself to break away from a place where he felt oppressed. This quote also shows how Jack felt his hunting was very important to Ralph and their overall survival. Jack, from the beginning believed hunting was the most important thing no matter what everyone else said, and from this belief Jack created many conflicts like not maintaining the fire. By leaving Ralph to hunt for himself Jack believed he was leaving him to die. Golding uses this to illustrate Jack’s need for power. When all structure was lost he found structure in hunting and thought those who didn't were still lost. By breaking away he created the ability to build a life that made sense to him and invited anyone who wanted to join. When Jack realizes this he very abruptly changes from someone who is fighting for power to someone with strength and courage. Jack paints a mask of his face and almost instantly changes. “He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling… The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness” (Golding 68). Almost instantly Jack was a different person to not only the people around him but also to himself. Like the conch Golding uses the mask as a symbol for power. With the mask Jack is someone who doesn’t have to follow rules and obey the conch. He shows his break away from the government by breaking the conch. “The conch exploded into a thousand white pieces and ceased to exist,” (Golding 209) and just as simply so did any power Ralph had over

Throughout the novel, the face paint that Jack and his crew used simultaneously masks their faces as well as their civility. The first mention of the facepaint is made when Jack is strategizing a way to sneak up on a pig and he decides to camouflage himself. Jack says that his “half-concealed face” is “for hunting. Like in the war” (63). The incomplete coverage of the paint indicates that Jack is not fully immersed into his savagery. However, his interest in aggressive acts, hunting and war, insinuates that he does have a tendency towards aggressiveness as well. Perhaps the most blatant reference to the fact that face paint induces savagery within the boys, specifically the hunters, is when Golding states that “the mask compelled them” (64)

Progressively through the novel, the boys’ clothes are used as an example to represent the declining importance of order. For example, when Jack and the boys first land on the beach, they “marched approximately in step in two parallel lines and [were] dressed in strangely eccentric clothing” (Golding 19). This illustrates a direct correlation between the uniforms and societal order. When the boys are fully clothed, they behave orderly and civilized. Over time, the boys shed their uniforms and begin acting more primitive and hectic. Jack, now painted and predatorial, begins to lead chants after his hunts, yelling, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (152). These chants portray the chaotic mindset instilled into Jack as the days and weeks have rolled by on the island. He is nearly naked at the time, wearing mainly clay paint and brandishing a knife when needed. In this way, he parallels early humans who wore only what they needed to survive and had weapons on hand to hunt. Eventually, the boys sport paint as

“A round patch of sunlight fell on his face and a brightness appeared in the depths of the water. He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger” (page 63). The boys on the island who follow Jack lose their innocence by murder and they all become savages. The quote shows how the paint that masked, encourages their fall. The Lord of the Flies really shows such a loss of innocence and some irony through all of their deaths and predicaments. In The Lord of the Flies Jack becomes a leader of bloodlust, the only absolute is Simon who is eventually murdered, and Ralph endures many trials.

Consequently, he uses the need of meat to rationalize his savage behavior, although there is an abundance of fresh fruit. The need for this excuse is obviated when Jack starts to apply a mask of paint in order to liberate himself from "shame and self-consciousness" (64). Moreover, this self-deception enables him to become an "awesome stranger" (63), capable of wholly abandoning any sense of morality or ethics.

Jack is showing how savagery is becoming a monster in him. This monster is a threat to social order because it foreshadows what will happen in the future. It shows that Jack will turn full savage and stop following Ralph’s rules. He will create his own tribe and the people in that tribe will all turn into savages too.

People hide their true identities behind masks they create and perfect. Some of them are stronger than others and therefore they create stronger masks. Even though Ralph gets elected as a leader, Jack seems to be stronger. Though, not a stronger personality, but rather by intimidating the smaller kids and gaining power from it. He then builds his very own mask: “Jack planned his new face. He made one cheek and one eye-socket white, then he rubbed red over the other half of his face and slashed a black bar of charcoal across from right ear to left jaw […] He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger” (63). By putting the different colors on his face, Jack creates a new self. At

breaks these rules when he lets the fire go out, and doesn’t help find food and water. Jack ends up

Jack wants to shed his savageness and animalistic traits. When he has perfected his clay face,

For example: “We’re going to hunt pigs and get meat for everybody. And we’ll look for the snake too-” (Golding 35) This quotation shows how Jack begins to represent savagery. After he wasn’t elected chief, he wants to take control in any way he can. This shows his desire to kill and dominate, which was previously explored in chapter one, when Jack tried to kill the pig and was unsuccessful. After the disappearance of the mulberry marked boy, the rest of the boys are frightened of the “snake thing,” he claims that he and his hunters will

Jack is the first character to don body paint, giving into the temptation of setting the inner beast free. During the duration of Jack's juncture on the island, his grip on society’s rules fades away, and he gives into the desire of acting on every impulse. Before wearing a mask, Roger sees Jack in the distance in a very different light: “When Roger opened his eyes and saw him, a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin; but Jack noticed nothing” (Golding 62). Underneath