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Use of Symbolism in The Lord Of The Flies
Symbolism is a very important factor in many books. In Lord of the Flies written by William Golding the use of symbolism is ever present. At a first glance many may not think much of the symbols; however with some in-depth thought you can see that they reflect the various situations on this microcosm of an island. As time on the island continues, the symbols change with it, and what they mean also is represented by this change. The pigs, the conch and Peggy’s specs are all Symbolic of the destruction and savagery that grows on the island.
Firstly the glasses that Piggy wore upon arrival of the island are symbolic of the state of the island in many ways. When they arrived at the island the glasses were spotless and perfect, no damage at all, similar to how the boys were. They were used to create fire and were needed; however the boy who owned the glasses was highly disrespected. “’You’re talking too much Fatty’” (Golding, Pg.18) this also changed with how the story unfolded. Soon after this conflict occurred, Jack and Piggy had a slight scuffle, however it would be more accurate to say that Jack beat up Piggy, consequently, this resulted in “Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks” (Golding, Pg.65) at this time the tribe was still united, however Jack had just made his first mistake of running off to hunt a pig and letting the fire out. Much later in the book the rebel tribe under Jack’s command stole the glasses from Piggy in the night. This was extremely symbolic in many ways as the theft of the glasses also represents the theft of unity take from the boys and then theft of brotherhood. It was this event that lead to Piggy’s death, and the theft of intelligence from the island. The glasses are an excellent symbol of the state of tension and savagery on the island and are used extremely well by Mr.Golding.
Secondly the conch is a symbolic force on the island, its existence rivals that of a peace officer or member of the law. At the beginning, when Ralph found the conch on the beach shore, and he “blew a series of short blasts” (Golding, Pg. 15) this called order to the island as all of the boys made there way to the beach shore. Shortly after that they established that the only person who was holding the conch would be allowed to speak at the meetings, this worked well at the beginning. However after the fire had be let out by the hunters, they started to disrespect the conch and what it stood for, as if in some kind of civil rebellion. This was strong foreshawdoing of what was to come. As soon after this, the tension and rebellion rose, and Jack left, ultimately taking most of the inhabitants. During this time the other tribe was highly disrespectful of the conch, at [next page]