Symbolism In Lord Of The Flies

Each human can represent something more than just their name. This is shown in the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. In the novel, many British boys have been marooned on an island far from home and are at a loss of what to do. There are no adults on the island and the boys have begun to make things discombobulated. Eventually a "civilization" is created but begins to fall apart. Each boy represents a part of this civilization, and each boy represents a certain characteristic. Throughout the novel, William Golding effectively uses symbolism to give certain characters a deeper meaning.

Ralph represents order, leadership, and civilization with its flaws. He is the perfect definition of a typical British boy. He is clearly the greatest boy on the island; after all, he is elected chief. There are many causes of why Ralph was elected chief. For example, he's a "Golden Boy." He is "fair" and "attractive.” He holds the conch, which symbolizes power and order, but he knows what this power is for. Instead of becoming savage and caught up into the bloodlust of hunting, he proposes more practical and sensible ways of staying alive. He decides to start a fire, therefore if a ship or a plane were to pass by; they would spot the fire and come to the island. Also, when someone wants to look for the new found fear of the "beast," Ralph volunteers to go himself demonstrating that he is able to force himself to do something he does not want to do, for the overall good of the group. Ralph, however, poses a question that leaves our minds boggling. Are leaders innately good, or are they good leaders as long as everyone agrees to live by their "civilized" rules. Unfortunately, in Ralph's case, his power depends solely on the following of ...

... middle of paper ...

...hers. Even before order fell completely apart, we could tell things were falling apart. For example, Roger and Maurice destroyed the littluns' sandcastles for no reason. Roger also threw rocks at the littlun Henry. Roger acts psychotic throughout the novel. In the end, Roger is the one who drops the rock that crushes Piggy and the conch, the only symbol of order. Roger shows us the devil inside us all; he shows us that there are people in this world who find joy from the suffering of others. Roger defines savagery and brutality.

Others may believe that Golding created these characters for no reason, but if you dig deeper, you discover that each and every character does have a deeper meaning. Golding teaches us many things about life throughout his book Lord of the Flies. However he leaves us with the question, are humans inherently good? Or are we inherently evil?