My BS-ed Lord of the Flies Essay . . .
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England during WW11 wrote, “Civilization will not last, freedom will not survive, peace will not be kept, unless a very large majority of mankind unite together to defend them . . .” Churchill explains in his quote that civilized society will only be kept going if the people wish to uphold it themselves, if not the world will fall to chaos. This quotes ties nicely into the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The novel features a group of boys who have crashed on a deserted island, and without the presence of adult figures, they quickly lose their connection to society and civilization. Golding uses objects like the conch shell, Piggy’s glasses, and the Lord of the Flies to symbolize the deterioration of the boy’s connection with civilization.
The first symbol introduced in the book is the conch shell that was used to call the boys to an assembly. Because of the conch’s original use it takes on a symbolic meaning of authority on the island. “and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch . . .” (Golding 22.) However during the course of the novel, the conch, which was once held in high reverence by the boys, begins to lose worth in their eyes as their connection to society grows weaker. “’Conch! Conch!’ shouted Jack. ‘We don’t need the conch anymore. . .’” (Golding, 101 and 102.) From this passage the reader sees Jack displaying his distaste for the conch after some time on the island. With the declination of the conch’s importance the boys begin to lose their sense of authority, an in turn one of their links to civilization.
The next symbol Golding uses to exemplify the boys fading connection to society is Piggy’s glasses. For one to properly understand this symbol however, one must look at the symbolic meaning of the character Piggy himself. Piggy is meant to represent intelligence and education during the novel, though he is under appreciated. Despite the fact that the boys are not appreciative of Piggy himself, they do need his glasses in order to survive, but while on the island Piggy’s glasses are broken on two occasions. “Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks. Piggy cried out in terror: ‘My specs!’ . . . ‘One side’s broken.’ Piggy grabbed and put on the glasses” (Golding 70.) And the second occasion during which Jack and some of his boys steal and break Piggy’s glasses during the night. “From his [Jacks] left hand dangled Piggy’s broken glasses” (Golding 168.) And so, because of Piggy’s representation of intelligence and education, indicators of a civilized society, the destruction of his glasses shows the boys ties to society breaking again.
The last symbol Golding uses to represent the deterioration of the boys connection to society is the Lord of the Flies. The Lord of the Flies is literally a pigs head, though figuratively it represents the boy’s inner evil. “ ‘You Simon? You believe in this?’ ‘I don’t know,’ said Simon. His heartbeats were choking him. ‘But . . .’ . . . ‘What I mean is . . . maybe it’s only us’” (Golding, 88) The boy’s inner evil is displayed many times throughout the novel, though most prominently in the killings of Simon and Piggy. The murder of these two boys is the ultimate desertion of the society of which the boys had come. “Even in the rain they could see how small a beast it was; and already its blood was staining the sand” (Golding 153.) “Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea” (Golding 181.) With these two murders the Lord of the Flies, also known to be the boys inner evil has come through, and final strings connecting the group of boys to society is cut.
Those are three examples of symbols that William Golding uses to symbolize the deterioration of the boys connection to society. Had the boys chosen to uphold the necessities of civilization as Winston Churchill had stated them, maybe their fate would not have been so cruel. However the boys chose their own path of savagery and segregation and destroyed themselves and one another in the process.
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