What Does Jack's Head Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

Throughout the novel Lord Of The Flies, the boys on the island are continuously faced with numerous fears. Subsequently there is nothing on the island which they fear more than the beast. The beast is not a tangible object that can be killed or destroyed by conventional means, but an idea symbolizing the primal savage instincts within all people. Its Golding’s intention to illustrate the innate evil inside man through his view of human nature, the actions of the Jack and his tribe, and the relationship between the beast and the school boys.

In the novel The Lord of the Flies, William Golding displays many views that compare to those of Thomas Hobbes theory of man being born evil and selfish. Additionally, Hobbes had concluded that people could not be trusted to govern themselves and an absolute monarchy needed to demand obedience to maintain order. In the novel, Golding writes about a group of young boys stranded on an Island struggling to maintain order with no adults around. Thus being said, Jack’s rebellious, the murder of Piggy, and the failure of a civilized society on the island display Hobbes theory. Golding demonstrates and supports Hobbes theory through his writing of his novels characters and situations.

The encounter with the Lord of the Flies supports Simon’s thoughts that the beast that the boys are hunting for is not an actual animal. The Lord of the Flies tries to persuade Simon to let go of his rational thoughts and be taken over by his primal instincts in order to have fun like the other boys. However, when Simon’s silence declares that he refuses to let go of logic and rationality, the Lord of the Flies realizes that Simon knows what the beast really is—the innermost part of the boys. Simon seems to make this connection that the Lord of the Flies is representational to the inner beast within the boys almost instantly. “His gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition”(Golding 139). Simon instantly The Lord of the Flies quickly makes the connection, too. “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding, 1 ). The Lord of the Flies is symbolic to all the evil that is in humans. As Simon realizes that he was right about the beast, he tries to go back to the other boys to warn them about his discovery, but the Lord of the Flies gets angry. “This is ridiculous. You know perfectly well you’ll only meet me down there—so don’t try to

The tragedies that unfold their civilization occur when they brutally beat Simon to death. After Jack and his hunters place the mother sow’s head in the forest as an offer to the beast they think exists, Simon encounters it and sees that it is covered in flies. Suddenly, the head started to talk to Simon as he feels like he is going to faint. It identifies itself to be the Lord of the Flies. It says, “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding 158). Simon then realizes that there is no physical beast, but a mental beast in each and every boy on the island. They all went from being joyful to a bunch of savages. Their

The Lord of the Flies says “Fancy thinking the beast is something that you could kill,” and he calls Simon a “silly boy” (Golding 143). The beast was trying to tell him that the boys were the actual beast and it was inside of them, as sin is in all of us from the fall of man. Matthew 12:24 says “But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” The world Beelzebub is another name used to address the devil, and literally translates to “Lord of the Flies”, which is the name that Golding uses to refer to the pigs head in the book. The Pig also tempts Simon in the forest as Satan did Jesus in the New Testament ( Matthew 4:1-11). The pigs meat represents the fruit of knowledge from the book of Genesis. The meat is all the boys could think about, until they ate it and it opened the door to savagery and sin. As Eve ate the forbidden fruit of knowledge and cursed the world with sin. Pork in the Old Testament was considered filthy and forbidden, and if you consumed it, you were considered unclean and sinful (Leviticus 11:7-8). Jack and his hunters ate the meat, and soon after became complete savages. Jack and his tribe worship the beast/pig, offering it fruit and sacrifices(Golding 137), as Revelations 13:4 says “People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and

Many of Hobbes’ beliefs are portrayed in Lord of the Flies by Golding. Hobbes believes that people are naturally evil and bad and many characters in the book, such as Jack, represent this. William Golding fulfills Hobbes’ ideas about man with Lord of the Flies in the moments when Jack and his group tries to raid Ralph to get Piggy’s glasses to make fires, when Jack and Ralph continuously argued over the best way to lead the group, and when Jack planned on killing Ralph to get full control and power over the boys.

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.

When Ralph asks him about his opinion on the beast, he says that he is unsure about it but if there is a beast, then it is within them. It is inside them which as a result is going to present itself when it feel its need to present itself as they are the dirtiest thing on the island than the beast. No one believes his prediction, for this reason, he goes to his secret hiding place full of butterflies, beautiful fragrant flowers, and candle buds where he can meditate to find out about the beast. As he reaches the place, he sees a pig’s head stuck on a stick with bees swarming around it. He continues to gaze it with such an immense interest that it seems like the pig’s head (Lord of the flies) starts talking to Simon. It says that it does not want him to be here and wants him to forget about their conversation and enjoy with his friends. If he does not do according to the Lord of the Flies, then he plans to have some with him through Jack, Maurice, Roger, Bill and Ralph whom he loves the most. “‘I’m [Lord of the Flies] warning you. I’m going to get waxy. D’you…See? Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph. Do you. See?” Indeed, at last, it had fun with him through the other group of boys. Meanwhile, Simon reveals the real truth, the other boys have a pig hunt dance. As the boys see a creature moving through the bushes, they assume it as the beast

A lack of religion will lead to a lack of morality. Christlike figures often appear selfless, enlightened, and are taunted by sin. Simon from Lord of the Flies exhibits kindness to the young children by getting them fruit, while most of the older children disregard the children, and leave them to their own activities. He challenges the older boys ways of thinking, as he often prefers to meditate alone in the jungle. He even outright opposes the group mentality, as he says, “I don’t believe in the beast” (105). When Simon is confronted by the lord of the flies (a thinly-veiled reference to satan), it taunts him. The pig’s head symbolizes of the worst aspect of the group, and it tries to tempt and threaten Simon so that he becomes like the rest of the boys: unorganized, unfocused, and on their way to becoming savages. Eventually the other boys ritualistically murder Simon because they mistake him for the beast. Simon was the only one who knew that the beast was not real. He was enlightened and it isolated him from the rest of the boys. The parallels between Simon and Christ make Simon’s death more impactful, to emphasize the inevitability of downfall in groups who

Jack’s hunters show the “darkness of man's heart” and the evil of killing when they start to brutally kill pigs and enjoy it. When the hunters successfully kill their first pig, they start to celebrate in a not so sane way. They start chanting “Kill the pig, cut her throat, spill her blood”(69). By the hunters chanting this, it shows that they enjoyed killing the pig. Killing the pig was a necessary task for obtaining food but it was turned into a form of bloody enjoyment. Later when Jack and his group stumble across another pig, they kill it in a not so quick and efficient way. They all jump the pig and “Roger ran round the heap, prodding with his spear wherever pig flesh appeared”(135). Jack helps out by repeatedly stabbing down on it with

“Maybe ... maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us”(William Golding). In the novel Lord of The Flies, William Golding exhibits the symbolism and representation of the beast. The beast represents the norm of society and how most citizens are conceived to evil. As the novel progresses, the reader's perspective of the beast transforms from a possibly harmful animal into to a representation of human civilization and how humans are ignorant and oblivious when it becomes survival of the fittest. The concept of the beast changes significantly during the novel from first the beast on land, then to the beast in the air and finally to the beast within the kids themselves.

“Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood..” Jack sings this after killing the pig and bringing it back to camp. Jack is the leader of a group of choir boys on the island.

The pig head embodies evil for the boys do brutal things because of it. At nearly the beginning of Lord of the Flies, there is already a conflict between Jack and Ralph over the pigs. Jack states,“‘We want meat,”’(Golding 51). On the other hand, Ralph thinks they need shelter. The pig head brings out problems throughout the entire book, changing the boys into savages and eventually splitting apart to fight and kill. “... A little apart from the rest, sunk deep maternal bliss, lay the largest sow of the lot,” Jack and his hunting spree observed from afar (Golding 134). They would go on to kill the great and beautiful sow, that was now brutally slaughtered into a bloody mess and shoved onto the stick. This changes the stunning sow into an evil demon. The murder symbolizes that all good things are gone as we would later see as the boys split apart and terminated both Simon and Piggy. The name Lord of the Flies translates to Beelzebub, which is a name for a formidable demon. Some believe that demons perform horrific actions such as withdrawing joy and making others feel miserable. This would later be revealed as the boys would feel a great amount of

The beast at this point in the book is a dead parachutist that the boys think are the biggest threat on the island. Later on the beast changes from a parachutist to a pig's head. The pigs head is now the new beast the boys see and fear. Jack is out hunting with the boys and kills a boar that soon becomes the beast which is renamed ‘ the lord of the flies’. Jack quickly kills the boar and gets the idea of keeping its

What is the theme of the Lord of the Flies? The theme is the conflict between the human impulse towards savagery and the rules of civilization which are designed to contain and minimize it. Ralph uses his authority to create rules to protect the good in the group and keep the English society in the boys. “‘That’s what the shell’s called. I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak.