Essay: Lord of the Flies written by William Golding

“Lord of the Flies” written by William Golding and published in 1954 is an allegory and social commentary that takes place in a deserted tropical island. An island that becomes populated when a plane crashes and leaves british schoolboys stranded. The group of boys attempt to recreate the civilization they came from, by choosing a leader : Ralph but, Jack wants to lead also, which causes the boys to little by little leave civility and form into savages.
The microcosm Golding creates explores the conflict between civilization and savagery. The two internal and competing impulses that exist in all people: the impulse to live by rules in an ordered civilized society vs the instinct to act in savage ways to obtain power over others and implements one’s will. Golding skillfully portrays the novel’s message through the use of motifs.  The Biblical Parallels in “Lord of the Flies” is a subtle motif. Simon, for example, takes the role of a Christ figure and arrives at the island as the moral compass of the story and he put his own needs aside. Yet, he is later “sacrificed” as a result of having had discovered the truth. Simon’s goal was to tell the boys they had nothing to fear because the beast was not real. If he had not attempted to deliver that message, he wouldn’t have died. Also, Jesus’s conversation with the devil during his forty days in the wilderness is similar to Simon’s conversation with the Lord of the Flies. Besides motifs, Golding used symbolism to further stress his message. In the book many things that seem ordinary hold a significant meaning. One of the first things  Ralph and Piggy find on the island is the conch shell, which Ralph later blows to call the first meeting. Used in this way the conch becomes a symbol of civilization and order. Shortly after the boys arrive at the island they begin to plan a way to get rescued, which is when they build the signal fire to attract passings ships. So, the signal symbolizes the boy’s desire and hope to return home. When the boys decided to start the signal fire, they’re helpless and have  no idea how to start a fire until they use the lenses from Piggy’s glasses to focus the sunlight and start the fire. This gave Piggy’s glasses the symbolic significance of rational thought and innovation in society. The beast was introduced in Chapter 2 and at first, it is nothing more than a figment of the boy’s imagination, the boys call it a giant snake and mistake it for the dead parachuting man, instead of being afraid of the unknown. That’s why the beast symbolizes the internal savagery that comes with fear that not only exist in the boys but all of the mankind. Lastly, The Lord of the Flies. What can a pig’s head symbolize? It symbolizes the evil that exists in everyone.  The pig’s head talks to Simon because he is an innocent boy, but it’s not really the head speaking but Simon’s evil conscience. This tells us that even the purest of the souls can contain evil.
Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, SamnEric, and Roger. Are probably the characters with the most depth is the story. Ralph is the attractive, charismatic protagonist of the novel. Elected as the leader at the beginning of the story, Ralph represents the properly socialized and civilized young man. Ralph is the one who conceives the meeting place, the fire and the huts. He is a diplomat and a natural leader. Piggy is the most physically vulnerable out of all the boys because although he is intelligent, he has poor eyesight, asthma and a weight problem. Piggy is the representation of maturity of thought and rationality. He’s  also one of the characters that doesn’t make it out alive. His violent death symbolizes the end of civilization and order on the island. In what is arguably the largest transformation in the novel. Jack’s changes within the storyline are one that depicts corruption, bloodlust, and transgression of human goodness into savagery. Jack’s transformation doesn’t occur immediately, instead we see a choir boy morph into a cruel monster who has no regard for the value of human life. At the beginning Jack is portrayed as a choir boy with a status that implies purity and certain demand of respect from others. That persona eventually falls when it becomes evident that there are no adults to maintain authority and that the odds of someone coming to their rescue are almost non-existing. Seeing an opportunity to seize power, Jack begins to instill fear in the other boys by telling them there is a beast prowling the island. He then adopts odd and savage habits like; painting his face, undermining Ralph’s leadership and organizing a group of bloodthirsty hunters who wind up in a violent with Ralph’s tribe. Piggy’s death and Jack’s indifference to the crime demonstrates that he no longer is just “play acting” at cruelty , but that instead he has fully transformed into a sadistic, cruel monster with no regard for the value of human life or for the long term survival of the other boys.  Making his character symbolize evil, violence and the dark side of human nature. Simon symbolized goodness. A “skinny vivid boy” (1.267). Simon was a timid, but compassionate. He showed his goodness through his actions. He gave Piggy the share of his meat, and helped the littluns pick fruit “found for them the food they could not reach”(3.138). Simon was also wise, mature and the only one who understood the beast. When Simon dies his death represents the loss of humanity in the boys because when he went to tell them that the beast was just a man, the boy’s all stabbed him to death thinking he was the beast. They failed to hear his screams and realize that the beast was within.