Symbolism in Lord of the Flies by Golding

Symbolism - Throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies, Golding uses

many images and symbols to portray evil and destruction.

Symbolism

Throughout the novel, 'Lord of the Flies', Golding uses many images

and symbols to portray evil and destruction. One of the main symbols

is the beast, and it destroys the relationships of the boys and is the

main symbol of evil. The conch on the other hand, is the symbol of

good, and represents the pure side of the boys. There are also many

symbols which tell us about their life on the island and 'set the

scene' in a deeper way.

The Island is described in great detail by Golding and at first, the

island is full of goodness and one would think that nothing could go

wrong on the island. 'Flower and fruit grew together' is an 'Eden'

like harmony and innocence and survival should be easy, especially

when there are no rules and as much food as they want to eat. It is

infact the environment they have, without any rules, which destroys

their lives in the future. The island is described as remote, which is

extremely important to the story, as the children are isolated and it

would take days for any adults to arrive at the island, and indeed see

the children on their own. It is important to note that at first the

two separate groups are at two ends of the island, and later on,

combine to create one big group. This is probably one reason for the

break up of all the boys as the two groups are slightly different, and

Jack and Ralph are competitive characters, who both want to be

leaders. In the end, their menacing side, overpowers their good, and

has a bad influence over the rest of the children.

Piggy soon finds the conch, and this becomes a symbol of good. Even

though Piggy ...

... middle of paper ...

.... I the end, the other boys murder

Simon as they think it's the beast. This symbolises that evil is

overpowering the good as the evil boys, are butchering Simon, who is

the only sign of purity and goodness on the island. Surprisingly, when

they kill Simon, they end up realising what they have done and are

ashamed of themselves. All this is because of the beast, and the

feelings of fear it created in the hearts of the boys.

Overall, Golding creates many symbols in the novel which represent

death and evil. He uses the beast to represent mans weaknesses and

man's darkest side, which eventually kills them, even though created

by them. The Actual story represents society and all of the symbols

are correspondent to today's real life situations, but are just

exaggerated a bit more and made into a story which explains these

situations in a more interesting way.