Lord of the flies is a novel written by William Golding. This novel describes the horrifying airplane crash of a group of children who had to make a sudden transition between an organized society to a truculent area with terrible condition. The novel provides the readers with a clear message that shows that humans are inherently tied to modern society, and without it, we would easily be transformed into wild savages. The author uses symbolism of characters and significant objects to support the message.
Throughout the novel many examples of symbolisms used such as Piggy’s glasses, the beast and fire. The fire is the most significant symbolism of wildness. Fire serves many uses, warmth during cold nights, cooking food, and most importantly to send distress signal to potential rescuers. In the beginning of the novel, the boys did not understand the importance of the fire and how it could easily get them rescued off the island. In Chapter Four, the fire went out without anyone’s attention while a ship was spotted in the distance by Ralph, the smoke could have attracted the ship and rescue the boys. Later on Ralph questioned the boys in charge of the fire, but Jack and the other boys came up with countless excuses to why the fire was not lit. A while after during a meeting, Ralph explained and got to his point by saying,
"The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep a fire going? Is a fire too much for us to make?"
He flung out an arm.
"Look at us! How many are we? And yet we can't keep a fire going to make smoke. Don't you understand? Can't you see we ought to–ought to die before we let the fire out?” (80) after this speech, the kids acknowledge the importance of the fire, and that whomever controlled the fire was the leader of the island. Fire represents leadership, hope, and power. When Ralph was in control of the fire he was the leader of the island. Later on when Jack was acquired this ability he was the leader of the island. Jack and Ralph have their own ways of ruling. Ralph based his law on a democratic society where decisions are made based on opinions of the majority. Jack was a dictator, he told the people what he wanted to do and only got jobs done the way he liked it. "Jack! Jack! You haven't got the conch! Let him speak.” Jack's face swam near him.
"And you shut up! Who are you, anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You
can't hunt, you can't sing–""I'm chief. I was chosen.""Why should choosing make any difference? Just giving orders that don't make any sense—“(91) This shows that Jack represents an autocratic government which means power is taken, and Ralph represents democratic governments where power is given. Later on, a conflict erupted over Piggy’s glasses. His glasses were used to start fires and Jack eventually stole the glasses and became the true leader of the islands. All the way throughout the book there is one main theme; the beast. I was introduced by a boy who was six years old, and on one side of his face was blotted out by a mulberry colored birthmark. The boy described it as “a snake thing”, describing it as a “snake thing” makes it absurd because they are not sure what it actually is. This keeps the reader curious about the mysterious beast. The beast being a snake is significant because it is not a big animal that you can see and keep an eye on for, but it is small and sneaky an you won’t even know when it is near, and can also do you life threatening damage. Ralph heard about the beast first but he laughed it off and did not take it seriously. He tried to convinced the boys that it was just their imagination. The rumor about the beast started to spread rapidly, when ever someone tried to show Ralph, other people starts to get scared. As days went on, more people became aware of the “beast”. He always shows that he isn’t scared, and that if he isn't scared why should anybody else be. He also tried to cover up by saying that they will get rescued soon and everything is going to be ok. "The best thing we can do is get ourselves rescued.” Jack had to think for a moment before he could remember what rescue was.” (54). Even if Ralph is scared of the beast, his speeches still makes the readers and other people in the group think that he is brave and not afraid of anything, and doesn’t want to think about anything else besides being rescued.
Every character in this novel has their own significance and symbolism, Piggy, and Ralph are the two most important characters in the book. In the novel, Piggy is the most intellectual kid of them all. He has bad eyesight, over weight, and has asthma, in the group he represents weakness, but also intelligence. Piggy in the beginning of the book was mostly used for his common sense, for example, the conch. He is intelligent, he knows what to do at what times, he knows what is right and wrong. “We can use this to call the others, Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us-” (16) This shows Piggy’s intellect seeing that the conch shell is a way to gather everyone, and civilization. Even though Piggy is the most intelligent but he also lacks a lot of courage. He didn’t start up to Jack after being slapped in the face by him. Piggy was very afraid of jack, they never got along because Piggy has always been on Ralph’s side. When he has trouble with Jack, he would always go to Ralph. “I’m scared of his” said Piggy, “and that’s why I know him. If you’re scared of someone you hate him but you can’t stop thinking about him. You kid yourself he’s all right really, and then when you see him again; it’s like asthma an you can’t breathe. I tell you what. He hates you too Ralph” Piggy (102) This is showing that Piggy’s confession to Ralph about his fear of Jack. Ralph is the protagonist of the novel, he is the leader of the group, and he is known to be the most mature and serious person in the group. Even Though he is the leader of the group, sometimes he still shows his immaturity and talk and make fun of people in a very childish way. “They used to call me Piggy” Ralph shrieked with laughter. He jumped up. “Piggy! Piggy!” Piggy clasped his hands in apprehension. (11) This shows that even though Ralph is a powerful leader, he still shows the childish side of himself sometimes.
The novel tells the readers that humans adapt to their surrounding environment very easily, when they are in a different situation, they act differently and adapt rapidly. Every object and every person in the novel has a different symbolism, and symbolisms make everything more significant and meaningful.