The Tragedy of War All 108 pages of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies has a bounty of symbols. Some as large as the allegory of the entire book, and some as small as the glasses on someone’s face. Though many of the symbols are similar and blend together, each one in Lord of the Flies serves its own unique purpose. Together, all of the symbols work to make an allegorical novel that set a precedence in English classrooms for times to come. Each symbol in Lord of the Flies varies in meaning and power. The themes most prevalent in the story are the sow’s head, the conch, and Piggy’s glasses. The sow literally has power over Simon. It brings him to insanity and is used to show the true shift in the sanity of the boys on the island. “Simon
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The story is an allegorical novel because the entire plot and theme of the story has a larger underlying meaning. There are countless ways that the book can be described as an allegorical novel. Some think it is an allegory for types of government, society's ignorance, morality, or even the entire story of Christ (Shmoop). All ideas have facts and solid evidence and all can be debated. The allegory of the story that makes the most sense is that the story depicts the effects of war. Specifically, the tragedy aspect that war causes. Though the story is a dramatic and exciting depiction of a group of kids living on their own, the reason they are on the island in the first place is rarely mentioned. All events in the story including the countless deaths and insanity that happened were caused because of the fictional war that the boys were escaping from. All boys started as well-mannered, innocent children who quickly fell to savagery on the island. Had they been safe at home, with adults, or lived in a civilized society, none of the events would have occurred. In addition to the main war that caused the boys to end up on the island, they had their own war that resulted in tragedy as well. When Ralph and Jack split up, their disagreement caused chaos and death on the island. With World War II fresh in the minds of those around the world and the ominous cold war in its incipient stages, war was …show more content…
Together, these symbols work to make an allegorical novel that set a precedence in English classrooms for times to come. Each symbol is unique in its own way in how it creates power and gives the entire book power. Though the many allegories of the novel are debated and open to interpretation, the allegory of war tragedy is the most
The story is an allegorical novel because the entire plot and theme of the story has a larger underlying meaning. There are countless ways that the book can be described as an allegorical novel. Some think it is an allegory for types of government, society's ignorance, morality, or even the entire story of Christ (Shmoop). All ideas have facts and solid evidence and all can be debated. The allegory of the story that makes the most sense is that the story depicts the effects of war. Specifically, the tragedy aspect that war causes. Though the story is a dramatic and exciting depiction of a group of kids living on their own, the reason they are on the island in the first place is rarely mentioned. All events in the story including the countless deaths and insanity that happened were caused because of the fictional war that the boys were escaping from. All boys started as well-mannered, innocent children who quickly fell to savagery on the island. Had they been safe at home, with adults, or lived in a civilized society, none of the events would have occurred. In addition to the main war that caused the boys to end up on the island, they had their own war that resulted in tragedy as well. When Ralph and Jack split up, their disagreement caused chaos and death on the island. With World War II fresh in the minds of those around the world and the ominous cold war in its incipient stages, war was …show more content…
Together, these symbols work to make an allegorical novel that set a precedence in English classrooms for times to come. Each symbol is unique in its own way in how it creates power and gives the entire book power. Though the many allegories of the novel are debated and open to interpretation, the allegory of war tragedy is the most