Lord of the Flies Essay William Golding used symbols and political allegory in his book Lord of the Flies to drive the story line forward. Symbols like the conch made the characters develop in ways that readers would have never thought. Golding used the conch as a symbol to show how different characters would react to having power and order around them. Political allegory such as Jack and the island that the boys were stranded on. Golding wrote this just at a time when England was just coming out of World War II and Jack and the Island represented his views on the war. Through the symbols and allegory used in this book the reader was able to read Lord of the Flies in the literal meaning and its underlying figurative significance; that made
…show more content…
The conch represents power and order; two characteristics that usually contrast. The reader firsts see the conch in the first chapter when Ralph blows it to bring all of the boys together. This identifies to the boys that Ralph has power, so the elect him as a leader. On the island the boys had meetings and whoever had the conch during the meetings had the power to speak. The conch was able to allow these gatherings of adolescent boys to be conducted in an orderly fashion. Because of the power that the conch had, many of the boys gravitating toward it in these assemblies. “He took off his glasses and made as if to put down the conch; but the sudden motion toward it of most of the older boys changed his mind. He tucked the shell under his arm, and crouched back on a rock” (45). When Piggy died the conch exploded and so did Ralph’s power and order on the island. Before Piggy’s death the boys had started to disregard, but it did represent the little order and power that Ralph had on the island. When the conch exploded Ralph’s power and order on the island was …show more content…
When the reader first reads about the island it is a very beautiful place. The only flaw was the scar or the place where the plane crashed, and this can be interpreted as the beginning of the war. The island seem to bring out the best and the worst in the boys like a war zone with soldiers. The island was an animal during the boys stay there, but It seemed as if the island’s mood would change with the actions of the boys. “Then the clouds opened and let down the rain like a waterfall. The water bounded from the mountaintop, tore leaves and branches from the trees, poured like a cold shower over the struggling heap on the sand” (153). When Simon died it was like the island started to weep and mourn for the death of innocence, and this parallel England during the war when all of her citizens cried out for the war to stop. The war that the boys started with each other sent the island up into flames. The fighting ruined the once beautiful paradise and changed it into a battle
The conch represents power and order; two characteristics that usually contrast. The reader firsts see the conch in the first chapter when Ralph blows it to bring all of the boys together. This identifies to the boys that Ralph has power, so the elect him as a leader. On the island the boys had meetings and whoever had the conch during the meetings had the power to speak. The conch was able to allow these gatherings of adolescent boys to be conducted in an orderly fashion. Because of the power that the conch had, many of the boys gravitating toward it in these assemblies. “He took off his glasses and made as if to put down the conch; but the sudden motion toward it of most of the older boys changed his mind. He tucked the shell under his arm, and crouched back on a rock” (45). When Piggy died the conch exploded and so did Ralph’s power and order on the island. Before Piggy’s death the boys had started to disregard, but it did represent the little order and power that Ralph had on the island. When the conch exploded Ralph’s power and order on the island was …show more content…
When the reader first reads about the island it is a very beautiful place. The only flaw was the scar or the place where the plane crashed, and this can be interpreted as the beginning of the war. The island seem to bring out the best and the worst in the boys like a war zone with soldiers. The island was an animal during the boys stay there, but It seemed as if the island’s mood would change with the actions of the boys. “Then the clouds opened and let down the rain like a waterfall. The water bounded from the mountaintop, tore leaves and branches from the trees, poured like a cold shower over the struggling heap on the sand” (153). When Simon died it was like the island started to weep and mourn for the death of innocence, and this parallel England during the war when all of her citizens cried out for the war to stop. The war that the boys started with each other sent the island up into flames. The fighting ruined the once beautiful paradise and changed it into a battle