Symbolism in Lord of the Flies

In a society without adults, children are likely to do unacceptable things. Without that supportive, influential guide they become more corrupt by following their own personal desires. In Lord of the Flies, Golding captures just that idea. Through the use of symbolism the author shows the readers that without parents as a role model, children are mislead and tend to behave inappropriately. First off, Symbolism is one of the strongest literary devices throughout the book. Within the first chapter, the audience already gets introduced to the first object of symbolism.The conch shell was originally found by Piggy but handed over to Ralph in order to call the rest of the boys out. By blowing into the conch shell, Ralph is able to call the rest of the boys from the forrest and have a meeting. During this meeting, the boy’s elect a chief, Ralph. Ralph establishes a law that someone can only speech during a meeting if they have the conch shell in their hands. Through this rule the conch shell becomes a direct symbol of order and authority. As the story progresses, the conch is referred to less and less. The audience can see this because more of the boys start to talk and bring up an argument without the conch shell in their hands. This brings up many arguments towards the middle of the book, especially in chapter 6 alone. Without the sense of authority and order, everything becomes chaotic. Some of the characters symbolized something as well. Piggy represented reason and civilization. His glasses in particular, showed the audience that he saw things more clearly than the rest. Also his glasses were the primary way to make a fire; therefore, who ever had them also had the power. The fire is extremely important due to the fact that they needed it in order to attract nearby ships. It was also their means of cooking food, staying warm, and keeping the beast away. When Jack punched Piggy and ended up breaking his glasses, this allowed for things to get hazy. In this