Lord Of The Flies Symbolism

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Golding uses a lot of symbolism in his novel “The Lord of the Flies”. He uses symbolism to show the movement from order to chaos. The symbols show that savagery and evil are more powerful than democracy and reason. Items such as the pig’s head, Piggy’s specs and the conch are all very powerful symbols which help to show how the boys develop over the course of the story. The specs show the decline of common sense and intelligence. The conch shows the deterioration of civilization and order. The pig’s head is a symbol of the power of evil and show how savage the boys have become. The conch represents authority, which also makes Ralph an authority figure for having found the conch. It also represents a very basic form of government and it sort of keeps all the boys in line to begin with; anyone who wishes to speak must be holding the conch. Slowly, the conch become irrelevant and the boys no longer listen to Ralph; slowly their form of government is deteriorating. When the conch is smashed, so is any authority Ralph had. When the conch shatters, so does their civilization. Piggy’s specs represent intelligence, wisdom, common sense, and the power of science. The glasses become a definite symbol of the power of science when the boys use them to light their fire. The use of the glasses or intelligence is what will get them rescued. When Jack slaps Piggy and one of the lenses break, Piggy becomes half-blind, which symbolizes the boys becoming half-blind to reason and intelligence. After Piggy’s glasses are stolen by Jack’s tribe, intellectualism has been lost to savages and Piggy is blinded entirely- rationality is blinded entirely. A very important symbol is The Lord of the Flies, the head of the pig Jack had slaughtered. The pig’s head represents man’s capacity for evil as well as the power of evil. The quote “Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt
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