Symbols In Lord Of The Flies Essay

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Ideally humanity is supposed to be a just and orderly society, based upon certain laws and principles we must abide to. But what happens when man is thrown into a situation where there are no rules and values to live by? In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows that when man is liberated from the rules and judgement of civilization he loses all sense of order and reveals his inner evil. This theme is developed through the use of these symbols: Piggy’s glasses, the beast and the Lord of the Flies. The first symbol introduced in the book is Piggy’s glasses. Symbolically, they represent the intellectual and ordered side of humanity. Also the glasses are the last object the boys have from the civilized world. While the glasses are still intact, the island remains somewhat orderly. But as the glasses get damaged, the boys on the island become more and more savage. For example: while Piggy’s glasses are still in one piece the boys have orderly assemblies, but when Jack breaks one of the lenses on the glasses (Golding, 76), the boys start to take sides within the group and lose their sense of unity. The breaking of the glasses represents the end of all rational and justifiable actions…show more content…
The Lord of the Flies is a pig’s head on a stick that Jack leaves as a gift for the “beast”. It serves as a physical representation of the evilness and savagery that exists within each human being. And it signals the loss of innocence amongst the boys. It represents the innate evil that all humans posses, and the fact that it overcomes any innate good is symbolised by Simon’s headaches and fainting (Golding, 152). When Jack and his gang kill the pig they are not disgusted or frightened by it as a normal twelve year old child would be. Rather they are excited and pleased by this act of viciousness (Golding, 149). This reaction towards the killing depicts how the boys have lost all sense of remorse and
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