Lord Of The Flies Figurative Language Analysis

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“Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in.” In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies he uses figurative language to create themes of “loss of identity” and “loss of humanity.” In chapter one Ralph and Piggy find a large conch shell. They realize the shell can be used to summon the boys together. Ralph describes the sound made by blowing into the conch as “mooed like a cow.” This type of figurative speech is found throughout Lord of the Flies. The story begins when a group of English boys find themselves stranded on a deserted island following a plane crash. At first the boys behave in a civilized manner. They realize they need to form a survival plan. A meeting is called. They decide to “vote for a chief. We have to have rules…show more content…
“The crying went on. Breath after breath it seemed to sustain him upright as if he were nailed to it.” They are fearful of a beast seen by some of the boys. A dead parachutist becomes the beast in their minds. A boy named Simon has a conversation with a pig head impaled on a stick. The pig head which is covered in flies is known as the Lord of the Flies. “The Lord of the Flies hung on his stick like a black ball.” These actions by the group of boys show that their minds were affected. They were losing their normal identity. In time the loss of identity and humanity gets worse. The tribe of boys breaks up into groups which fight against each other. The boys physically attack each other. “He began to pound the mouth below him using his clenched fist as a hammer.” This describes how little they cared about each other and the survival of the whole group. In a short period of time, these English boys lost their own identities and humanity. They became uncivilized. They had no sense of order or fairness. When they are rescued the boys are asked why this group of British boys had not put on a better show. Ralph responds “it was like that at first. We were together then.” Fighting, bitterness and jealousy caused them to lose their humanity and then their identity
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