What Is the Importance of Symbolism in 'Lord of the Flies'?

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What is the importance of symbolism in ‘Lord of the Flies’? Throughout the book there is a vast amount of symbols that Golding uses to represent other less obvious items. ‘Lord of the Flies’ has the theme of how everyone is a savage inside and that everyone can change regardless of etiquette. The book starts off as a book about a group of stranded boys, but gradually it is effectively monitoring human nature when we are left in certain conditions and how it changes. I will be discussing a few of the, in my opinion, most important symbols in the book. The first symbol that I will be discussing, is what I think is the most important symbol in the book, the conch. Early in the book the conch is described as being “Ever so valuable”. Piggy says this as in the sense that the conch is worth a lot of money. Really the conch is valuable because it is a sign of law and order. The conch is used to as the basis to a political system e.g. to speak in an assembly you must have the conch. As well has being the only thing the boys have to organize a society, the conch is also used to symbolize authority. When Ralph first blows the conch and he meets with the other children, he is compared to “the man with the megaphone”. This means that because Ralph is being compared to an adult he has more authority over everyone else because an adult would take charge and direct the children. Also when the conch shatters into many pieces, this marks the end of democracy and the society. The second symbol that I think is also very important is Piggy’s glasses. Glasses stereotypically show intellectuality. Piggy seems wiser than the other boys, meaning that Piggy generally thinks himself to be more mature and more adult-like than the rest of the group, as he frequently says that the other children are “behaving like a pack of kids”. Piggy is also the only one of the boys who wears glasses, has
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