Understood Objects of Symbolism in the Novel "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

confide in the conch and when the conch is held up, it is a sign of

In the graphic novel the “beast” is more than just a bull in the sense that it represents many other characteristics, but it is still a beast because it embodies the aggression, violence and fear shown in the boy and also in all of us as individuals. The hostility of the beast is shown through the physical killing

“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us,.” said William Golding, Lord of the Flies. When a symbol is examined, many conclusions can be drawn by relating the symbol to society and real life. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, even though the beast does represent something one can hurt or kill, as a symbol it represents a larger concept or idea because it brings out the beast-like personalities of the boys on the island, illustrates Jack’s dominant personality, and portrays the personalities inside all of us which humans can never defeat.

The conch is just a shell, But it does represents much more than that, the conch is power, order, respect and civility and when it's broken, It’s the loss of civilization. The conch is first found by Piggy and Ralph when they first get to the beach. Piggy who’s seen one before at someones house said “He used to blow it and then his mum would come. It’s ever so Valuable”(11). Then later Ralph used it to do the same thing by blowing in it to find all the boys on the island and to call meeting later. During one of the

Initially, the “beast” is a manifestation of fear. According to the text, “ the darkness of night and forest with spirits and demons… previously only appeared in their dreams…” ( Document A: The Terrors of the Unknown). To clarify, these young boys, with no adults to comfort them, are afraid of the darkness and projecting their fears

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.

Initially, the beast can represent fear. The beast is simply a pigment of the young boys imaginations, “The younger children first, then gradually the older ones… begin to people the darkness of night and forest with spirits and demons which had previously appeared only in their dreams or fairy tales.” The boys externalized their inner fears with objects from the outside the world, resulting in the creation of the “beast”. In Document B, the young boy with the mulberry-colored birthmark, claimes to have spotted

Lord of the Flies, a suggestive name for the Devil, a devil whose name proposes that he is devoted to decay, destruction, demoralization and panic, exactly what William Golding had in mind when using symbolism in this novel. The Lord of the Flies (1954), is a novel in which interpretating the symbols are a main key to not only understanding, but also enjoying the novel. After tying many of the symbols together, you can figure out more about what the author is trying to depict, the overall scene.

When the Beast is first mentioned, it represents fear. According to Claire Rosenfield in her Psychological Analysis of Lord of the Flies, the boys are frightened by the island in the absence of their “comforting mothers” and they “externalize these fears into the figure of a “Beast.” (Doc A) We see this in action when a little boy with a mulberry birthmark claims to have seen it: “He says he saw the beastie, the snake-thing, and

The two things the beast seems to represent are paranoia and the inner "beasts" inside these boys. The paranoia is obvious, the littluns are looking over there shoulders and having nightmares from fearing that they'll never leave to the "original beats" that was put into there heads from the little birthmark child. The "inner beast" part is the fact that it has been showing up more since Jack managed to kill the pig, getting rid of most of his threads to civilization. 4. At this point Jack is gaining more power then Ralph.

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.

"His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy's arms and legs twitched a bit like a pig after it has been killed" (217). This is what can happen to someone when all signs of civilization, order and power disappear and have no more meaning to members of a group or society. In the writing of William Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954), the symbol of power and civilization is the conch. Once that is lost, all bets are off. When the novel begins, two boys are talking about what has happened and why they are on this island. While walking on the beach, the main character Ralph then proceeds to find a shell which the two boys call the conch. Blowing on this shell Ralph calls a

He talks of a slithering object at night that tries to get him while he is asleep. There are many other accounts of a beast, even a pig’s head and a parachutist who did not make it. The Beast represents the fear that the boys have and everyone. The Beast is altered or changed depending on the boy who speaks of it because they are all scared and afraid of what might be out there or what might come to be. However, after Simon is killed and the parachutist is gone, they believe the beast is gone.

One of the most important symbols in Lord of the Flies is the conch shell. It represents law, order and power. The shell was the only way to gather everybody from their scattered places on the island. When the conch was blown the boys knew that the chief had something important to say. Once everyone was gathered at the meeting, the holder of the shell was the only person allowed to speak. In the novel, Golding compared the conch shell to its opposite; the pig’s head. The head contradicted the shell because it characterized chaos and terror. The shell also emphasized that power is fake. A flag is no more meaningful than the conch that Ralph had. It’s the meaning behind it and the meaning that people give it that makes it important. Rules are only powerful if everyone agrees on them. Ralph realized this once Jack left and took most of the group with him. If he blew the conch and no one came, the shell would lose all of its power. “If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued.” (Golding 124) When the conch breaks, so does Ralph’s power and Jack takes his spot as chief.

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.