Literary Essay, Lord of the Flies Analysis

Lord of the Flies Analysis

Lord of the Flies is a book about kids who get stranded on an island because of an accident on their airplane. It was written by a British author, Sir William Golding. The accident will cause a “scar” on them forever by changing how they are. The word “scar” is used to by the author to foreshadow a lasting effect this adventure will have on the children. In the story most of the kids go through a lot of changes, some even become savage. They also fight for power and even start killing one another. This desire leads them to destroy themselves and their hope. They set a destructive fire on their source of food and shelter, the forest; destruction seems to not know any limits for them. In this story the ideas of desire for power, the fear of the unknown, fear of other people, anger, and jealousy are all explored. Golding asks hard questions of what he calls "the darkness of man's heart." He does this by using a lot of symbolism to illustrate his idea of what causes the darkness of man's heart.

In the beginning, Ralph and Piggy, the first to be presented in the story, are wondering where they are. They also ask themselves if they are the only kids on the island. Ralph gets in the water and is talking when suddenly Piggy notices a shell, which really is a conch. It symbolizes order and civilization due to its power to create order through organized meetings. Immediately after it is found it is marked with being an object of power, when Piggy says, "We can use this to call the others." The others respond to the call of the conch, which means it influences what the others do. Although it took some time for him to blow the conch; he did and suddenly, "a child had appeared among the palm trees." This conch is what makes Ralph look like a better leader when the children decide to vote for one, "But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out; there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch." It is the person with the conch who will be able to talk, as decreed by Ralph, "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak…And they won't be interrupted. Except by me." This demonstrates the power of the conch over the tribe. In chapter 11 the conch explodes “into a thousand white fragments and ceases to exist."   The destruction of the shell provides an illustration of how uncivilized the island is. This occurs after authority and Ralph's leadership end completely. The power then shifts to Jack.

Ralph decides, after they confirm that they are on a deserted island, to make a fire and get the attention of passing boats and be saved. The hope of being saved fuels the desire to start a fire. As Ralph says, "we can help them find us," referring to sailors. This fire symbolizes the hope of rescue and return to order and civilization. "If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us," so we must make a smoke at the top of the mountain. "We must make a fire."   They do, but the fire won’t last long because the kids can not keep the fire going. When Jack is in charge of the fire he ignores the importance of a signal fire and loses them the chance of being saved, "The horizon stretched, impersonal once more, barren of all but the faintest trace of smoke" because it was Jack who was leader of those who kept the fire going, but who thought it more important to go hunt. It then symbolizes loss of hope. Realizing the truth in these words, all help with the fire, but then Jack starts convincing some to join him in hunting. And so the children start to be stripped from their hope of rescue because hunting is more fun. Ralph says, "I'd like to put on war-paint and be a savage." Because of this, their possibilities of being saved obviously decrease. Once Piggy suggests reigniting the fire, it then symbolizes a restoration of hope.

The spectacles symbolize comfort and dependability due to their ability make fire. It is in the beginning that dependability of the glasses is demonstrated when Jack says, "His specs, use them as burning glasses." Only with his glasses could they have been able to light the wood for the fire. Jack’s hunting group takes the fire from the fire-makers. Once Jack's tribe takes the glasses, it then symbolizes a shift in power

The most important symbol to the theme is the "Lord of The Flies.” It is the pig who I believe is the evil side of the kids; it represents evil death and humanity’s darker impulses. Simon confronts the "Lord of the Flies," which tries to convince him to forget what he has seen. The dead pig also creates an overflow of wild emotion in the tribe. For instance, the boys chant a warlike song, "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in," and carry the carcass of a pig.

Jack and the other boys behave like savages, demonstrated by the appearance; dirty, half-naked, and with paint on their faces. The narrator refers to the painted boys repeatedly as savages, "Demoniac figures with faces of white and green and red rushed out." They were attacking Ralph’s group, taking fire from them, so they could cook the pigs. After the raid, "Presently Ralph rose to his feet, looking at the place where the savages had vanished."

The cruelty by Jack and the faithfulness of his followers cause Jack to become god-like. An example of this is symbolically noted in the pig's head on a stake. The symbolic pig's head is Jack's beastlike nature, while the flies around it are his followers who swarm about his appealing action, "the pile of guts was a black blob of flies that buzzed like a saw." All of Jack's power resides in the fear of a beast on the island. An example of this fear is noted in the tribe's beating and killing of Simon, "Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill—Kill the beast! Cut..." The tribe's irrational fear causes them to act in a manner that supports Jack's position of warlike protection. Another example of Jack's control by fear is in his denouncing Ralph's leadership and demanding he be the leader to fight the beast. The existence of a beast supports Jack's claim to leadership and tribal status. The tribe forms in the face of fear, but the real beast in the novel is Jack and his tribe.

Symbolism of the tribe and beast, and symbolism depicted in characters, all help establish the theme in Lord of the Flies that the insight into one's soul is developed through object symbolism. The cruelty that humans are capable of is seen in everyday life. The cruelty that humans are capable of doing in the absence of order is horrific and everyone can display his beast without consequences.v