A Thought-Provoking Novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding

1260 Words3 Pages

Any interesting, thought-provoking, moving story or novel has many key aspects. It must have an excellent plot, character development, and story development as well, but most importantly, it must have many layers a reader can delve into and analyze. These commonly occur in the form of allegories. An allegory, by definition, is a work of art in literature in which a deeper, hidden meaning can be found. Not only do they voice the author’s opinions and engage a reader, allegories also reveal moral principles not commonly found without analysis. A prime example of allegorical and metaphorical representation in novels is William Golding’s critically-acclaimed novel Lord of the Flies. At first glance, the novel tells the story of a group of boys stranded on a deserted island, eager to escape but who eventually succumb to a primitive state of nature as the story progresses. When analyzed further, however, one can see that the novel is riddled with allegories, motifs, and symbolism. Among these include a political allegory in which Golding chooses to assign each character and even mundane objects a very specified role in various forms of government. He also chooses for his novel to become a parallel of the Bible, with key events in the story’s plot representing important events in religious teachings. Finally, he allows Freudian psychology to interpret each character as an aspect of the human mind, controlling and balancing each other as the boys’ society rapidly falls into chaos. Through interpretation, Lord of the Flies can represent political, religious, and psychological allegories.
Firstly, the interactions between the boys in the novel as well as the relationships that form between them lead Lord of the Flies to represent a politic...

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...a parallel to an important aspect of the Bible and its teachings. Finally, characters are compared to aspects of the human mind when the novel is interpreted as a psychological allegory, helping to reinforce the relationships and struggles amongst them. All of these allegories, motifs, and metaphors are layers of the story, and must be analyzed thoroughly in order to discover the author’s true intent. At the same time, they all relate back to the superficial moral of a society’s descent into a chaotic state of nature when faced with varying and conflicting opinions and beliefs. In conclusion, allegories are used throughout literature to make a novel richer and opulent while strengthening and supporting reoccurring themes throughout the work, and Lord of the Flies expertly utilizes this literary device through its copious use of inward metaphors, motifs, and morals.

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