Allegory: Finding History in Literature
World War II was one of the world’s most prolific examples of savagery seen to date. Millions were killed, and not only on the war front. The Bildungsroman novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a microcosm of adult society during World War II. A microcosm helps explore concepts in our world in a less complex fashion. Golding’s story centers on Ralph and a group of English boys as their plane crashes on a deserted island. Left to themselves, the boys quickly turn to savagery, developing two opposing tribes. Lord of the Flies uses allegory to relate the experiences on the island to World War II. An allegory is a written work that contains a hidden or deeper meaning. Goulding forms his allegory using the main characters and matches them with the key players of World War II. Golding’s’ allegory is evident in the way he shapes his main characters after main figures in the war. In this microcosm Goulding has identified Ralph as Winston Churchill, Piggy as the scapegoated Jews, and Jack as Hitler.
Many parallels can be drawn between Ralph, the leader of the island, and Winston Churchill, the leader of Great Britain. After the children land …show more content…
They are each crucial to portraying the island as a microcosm of World War II. Ralph has the strength and leadership of Winston Churchill, while Piggy’s exploitation and scapegoating is much like that of the Jews and Jack’s military and persuasive manner is not unlike Hitler’s. This allegory is intended to show people the truth behind the world war. As a microcosm it uses a small scale example to try to decipher how World War II came into being. When broken down, World War II was no more than a group of immature children resorting to savagery. This allegory uncovers that the adults in this world are just as savage as the children on the island
World War II was one of the world’s most prolific examples of savagery seen to date. Millions were killed, and not only on the war front. The Bildungsroman novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a microcosm of adult society during World War II. A microcosm helps explore concepts in our world in a less complex fashion. Golding’s story centers on Ralph and a group of English boys as their plane crashes on a deserted island. Left to themselves, the boys quickly turn to savagery, developing two opposing tribes. Lord of the Flies uses allegory to relate the experiences on the island to World War II. An allegory is a written work that contains a hidden or deeper meaning. Goulding forms his allegory using the main characters and matches them with the key players of World War II. Golding’s’ allegory is evident in the way he shapes his main characters after main figures in the war. In this microcosm Goulding has identified Ralph as Winston Churchill, Piggy as the scapegoated Jews, and Jack as Hitler.
Many parallels can be drawn between Ralph, the leader of the island, and Winston Churchill, the leader of Great Britain. After the children land …show more content…
They are each crucial to portraying the island as a microcosm of World War II. Ralph has the strength and leadership of Winston Churchill, while Piggy’s exploitation and scapegoating is much like that of the Jews and Jack’s military and persuasive manner is not unlike Hitler’s. This allegory is intended to show people the truth behind the world war. As a microcosm it uses a small scale example to try to decipher how World War II came into being. When broken down, World War II was no more than a group of immature children resorting to savagery. This allegory uncovers that the adults in this world are just as savage as the children on the island