Symbols In Lord Of The Flies Research Paper

“I need a vacation”. Most people will say this multiple times in their lifetime. Getting away from home to a sunny island seems like a dream to so many. Yet, if you were stuck there for an unknown amount of time with no luxury, would you still want that vacation? A group of kids are faced with this problem in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. After evacuating from a wartime England, a handful of young boys crash onto an island with no parents, buildings, or comforts of home. The boys settle into their niches on the island and form a mini-society of children. Structure does not necessarily mean satisfaction, though. Two of the boys on this island were identical twins. Their names were Sam and Eric, eventually becoming

Sam and Eric, the twins that never seem to be apart, always honest, and always working towards the greater good. After Piggy’s tragic death, Jack takes Samneric and they become part of the tribe that he created. However, in Chapter Twelve when Ralph goes to talk to them, they warn him to leave or he might get in trouble.

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.

Ralph thought Jack was being a baby and left him to cry. He told Samneric about his encounter with Jack before he went to sleep. Although Samneric didn’t say it, they thought Ralph was very rude to leave him.

There is no given reason as to why, so, the boys believe that Jack is doing it simply because he can. Jack is able to show his authority as a chief and does this to fulfil his cruel needs. In chapters ten and eleven, Ralph and his boys go to the Reds, Jack and the hunters, side of the island. Limping along the edge of the water, the boys arrive to face the Reds. Once Piggy is dead, he and the other tell him that is what he will be looking forward to by yelling, “thats what youll get”, while showing no remorse he hurling a spear at Ralph. Once Ralph leaves, Jack tells the twins, “You have got to join my tribe.” Refusing, Sam and Eric say, “You lemme go..and me.” Jack responds with, “What d’you mean by not joining my tribe?” Eventually, they twins give in, knowing what would happen to them if they had not agreed. Jack and the majority of his boys, show their power to Ralph and the others in a cruel way. By doing this, it means that by using their power to their advantage, they can do anything by making the others fearful. While the twins are on guard duty, Ralph finds them, asking them to leave. However, the twins tell him, “You don’t know Roger. He’s a terror...And the chief...they’re both terrors.” The boys reveal that they are not only

The novel Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding is a very iconic book in my opinion. This novel consists mostly of symbolism. Lord of the Flies talked about the relationship of teenage boys who survived a plane crash together. The boys are all on their own and struggling. They encounter many incidences that comply symbolism. A couple of the acts of symbolism are the beast the boys kept imagining, Piggy’s glasses, and the conch. The boys are all afraid of the beast, Piggy’s glasses demonstrate the fact that he saw everything more clear then the boys and how he started the fire. Lastly, the last of the most important symbolisms in the novel is the conch, showing the civilization and order.

In Lord of the Flies, symbolism is evident in the outward appearance of the boys, as it represents the mental state of them. This is a unique use of symbolism, and this along with it’s great writing, interesting plot, and intriguing characters, makes Lord of the Flies by William Golding a great

Many times throughout the book, Piggy is the voice of reason and helps to guide Ralph along that same road if he loses his way. After scolding Samneric for being pessimistic about their fate, Ralph momentarily forgets the reasons why the signal fire is so important. "He tried to remember. Smoke, he said, we want smoke. Course we have. Cos the smoke's a signal and we can't be rescued if we don't have smoke. I knew that! Shouted Ralph" (Golding 172). Ralph begins to lose his initial cheerfulness and enthusiasm and replaces it with disinterest and pessimism. Piggy and Ralph separate themselves from Jack and his tribe and continue to maintain their "government". However, when Jack and his tribe kill a pig and invite Ralph and Piggy to join their feast, the two accept and cannot resist the temptation of the meat. Later on in the celebration, Jack and his tribe perform a ritualistic dance, in which Piggy and Ralph later join. "Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of the sky, found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society" (Golding 152). They realize that the dance fueled the boys to murder Simon, and later deny their participance in it. "We left early, said Piggy quickly, because we were tired" (Golding 158). Ralph and Piggy recognize the evil in the dance, and know that if the others found out about their participance in it, then the boys would claim that Piggy and Ralph would be

Throughout the novel, they struggle to stay alive and not turn savage. Along with these conflicts in the story, the individual character flaws changed how the conflict affect each character personally. Jack, for example, was not phased by savagely killing young kids and not being rescued. However, Ralph was devastated and disappointed when all of his old friends turned against him and became savages. The situation that they were in resulted in character flaws that changed the dynamic of the story as a

As one can see from the start, Jack's tribe changes their lifestyles to a primitive state, while Ralph's seeks the future in life. Ralph thus thinks on a more matured level by learning from past mistakes, while Jack only seeks the fun out of life. This is the main reason why Ralph's group, even though lonesome, still prevails. Ralph and Jack indeed set different rules under each other's turf. The two leaders follow different beliefs, and thus have different lives to live, and groups to lead.

Samneric inform Ralph of the impending manhunt just before Ralph goes to bed down for the night. The next day, acting purely out of the fundamental drive for survival (id), he attacks two savages who stand between him and escape, and wounds a third from his hiding place. The members of Jack's tribe have ceased to be human for him; he thinks of them as "those striped and inimical creatures. " Hunting has become their identity rather than their activity. However, Ralph still thinks sensibly even when on the run: when the forest fire burns the fruit trees, he curses the tribe for failing to think ahead when they set the fire.

When Ralph visits Sam and Eric after they had been captured and forced into the tribe, they tell him “You’ve got to go now, Ralph. For your own good.” (Golding 189). The good human nature of these two characters allows them to warn Ralph, rather than turn him in to Jack, who would kill or torture him. They also go on to tell Ralph “they’re going to hunt you tomorrow” (Golding 188) , warning him about Jack’s and Roger’s intentions.

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.

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.

Jack, negatively portrayed in comparison to Ralph, tempts the boys with an array of forbidden treats, indulging their most violent, suppressed desires in an attempt to lull them away from the security of Ralph. In a sense, Jack is negatively compared to Ralph throughout the novel, and is often portrayed as confused and violent, very aware of the evil inside of him: “The real problem that arises among the boys involves their own inner nature…” (Johnston 2). When his plan fails, Jack feels as though his seat of power is threatened and therefore resorts to terrorizing, threatening and essentially forcing the boys to join him and align themselves against Ralph, alienating them from their former, comfortable life-style and thus making what they once failed to appreciate all the more desirable.