Symbols In Lord Of The Flies Essay
Symbols are useful tools authors often use to allow the reader to track characters’ changes throughout a novel. In Lord of the Flies, author William Golding’s extensive use of symbolism allows readers to easily track the change in the characters, their personalities, and their morals. The novel begins when a plane crashes on an unknown island where boys are left with no adults to lead them; a eboy named Ralph steps up with the help of his intellectual ‘Piggy’ to help the boys survive and, eventually, get rescued. As the novel progresses, however, the boys change and slowly turn to the leadership of Jack: a power-hungry, later tyrannical, boy. Three symbols, the conch shell, Piggy, and the “mask”, are significant throughout the novel in that
…show more content…
This symbol tracks the boys connection to themselves and civilization as they progressively become more savage, and represents the boys hiding from themselves and civilization’s morals and values. First after painting their faces, the mask allows them to feel more protected while killing a pig, then later allows them to commit much more harmful, savage acts. Golding writes, “...the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self consciousness” (Golding 64). In the very beginning of the novel, Jack is not willing or able to kill a pig for meat; when he discovers painting his face, however, he no longer feels the connection to himself that allowed him to feel his natural guilt previously. This disconnection allows him to, eventually, brutally kill pigs. When all of Jack’s tribe wears the mask, they unify in their disconnection with themselves, allowing them to kill their fellow boy, Simon. This symbol allows the reader to see the boys’ loss of identity and their disconnection with themselves, their morals, and society. If it were not for the symbol the mask, the boys would have felt too great a tie to their and society’s morals to commit any of the hanyous actions they did that caused all order and civilization to be
This symbol tracks the boys connection to themselves and civilization as they progressively become more savage, and represents the boys hiding from themselves and civilization’s morals and values. First after painting their faces, the mask allows them to feel more protected while killing a pig, then later allows them to commit much more harmful, savage acts. Golding writes, “...the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self consciousness” (Golding 64). In the very beginning of the novel, Jack is not willing or able to kill a pig for meat; when he discovers painting his face, however, he no longer feels the connection to himself that allowed him to feel his natural guilt previously. This disconnection allows him to, eventually, brutally kill pigs. When all of Jack’s tribe wears the mask, they unify in their disconnection with themselves, allowing them to kill their fellow boy, Simon. This symbol allows the reader to see the boys’ loss of identity and their disconnection with themselves, their morals, and society. If it were not for the symbol the mask, the boys would have felt too great a tie to their and society’s morals to commit any of the hanyous actions they did that caused all order and civilization to be