Symbolism In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Register to read the introduction… However, on the island there are no adults who would tell the boys what is acceptable and what is not. The boys are free to do things that would be considered barbaric in a more civilized place, which allows them to begin acting like savages. For instance when Jack paints himself a mask using pigs' blood and becomes more savage because, "…the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness"(80). There is nobody around who would tell Jack not to paint his face, and after he does, he begins to do more barbaric things because he feels that he is more or less free to do what he pleases with the mask on. If Jack was still in a civilized society it would not be socially acceptable for him to have a mask of pigs' blood. This displays that without social standards, a person is not expected to do things a certain way, therefore people would be free to act more like savages.

In Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, Ralph and Jack are two distinct characters whose leadership qualities contrast …show more content…
One specific symbol is the stick sharpened at both ends (Double Headed Spear). Accordingly the stick reveals that they will go to any measure to ensure that they get what they want. Jack announced, "Sharpen a stick at both ends."(169). He tells everyone that the spear will be used to hold up the "gift"(170) for the beast. Later they try to use this spear to kill Ralph. Nevertheless, this shows that first they just want food so they could survive and be rescued. They later got so carried way with power, and despite their upbringing, they resorted to killing their own just to get their own way. Furthermore this symbolizes that nothing is going to slip out of their grip and that they will kill anything that they don't particularly like at that