Symbolism in Lord of The Flies (Free Essay Sample)

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”(Golding 152). Lord of the flies written by William Golding is a gruesome story about a group of young boys that get stranded on a deserted island during the war. During their time on the island, most of the boys fall into their inherent evil and show that all humans can become cruel without any helpful guidance. Throughout the story, the author adds in many different literary devices, one device that is frequently used is symbolism. Although there are many instances of symbolism being used throughout the story, three examples that are influential to the story are the conch, the character Simon, and The Lord Of The Flies.

One of the main symbols used throughout the story is the conch which represents civilization and adult rules on the island. Without the conch, there would be no law and order put in place on the island which would cause complete chaos. The first appearance of the conch was in the quote “We can’t have everybody talking at once… Then I’ll give him the conch. . . . I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.”(Golding 33). This was the first instance of actual rules being put in place on the island between the boys. Now that there were rules being set in place it had started to mimic the civilized world instead of a savage society. The shell was an effective vessel of democracy in the story until the boys started to fall into savagery. Once they started to fall into savagery, the conch started to lose its power and become less effective. When the conch was destroyed, it symbolized the end of civilization for all the boys on the island. The symbolism of the conch was a key part of the story because without it there would be no civilization or rules put in place causing the people to fall into their demise.

Another symbol that had a main role throughout the story was the character Simon. Simon was an important character in the story who was often symbolized as the biblical figure of Christ and the natural goodness in people. “Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands. When he had satisfied them he paused and looked round. The littluns watched him inscrutably over double handfuls of ripe fruit.” (Golding 56). In this quote, Simon was shown helping the littluns pick fruit, showing his goodness by nature. It was also an allusion to Christ feeding the multitudes in the New Testament of the Bible. Throughout the story the only person to have stayed kind to everyone no matter what was Simon; symbolizing that he was the natural good in people. When Simon was murdered, the language had switched to a spiritual-like language which showed the connection with Simon and Christ. Simon was one of the main characters meaning his symbolism had made a large impact on the story. 

The last symbol that was influential to the whole novel was the symbolism of The Lord Of The Flies. The Lord of the flies was the severed sow's head that Jack had impaled onto a stake in the forest as an offering to the beast. The severed sow's head had symbolized the inherent evil in everyone and was a Satan like figure throughout the story. “What are you doing out here all alone? Aren’t you afraid of me? . . . There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast.” (Golding 143) In this quote it is evident that the character Simon who had also symbolized the biblical figure of Christ was hallucinating and thought he was talking to the lord of the flies. The author had made it clear in this quote that the lord of the flies had represented a beast which also represented evil. While Simon was hallucinating, Simon starts to understand that the beast (evil) is something that can't be killed because it exists only in humans. The symbolism of The Lord of the Flies was important to the story because it had set up the theme that the whole story revolves around; which is that there is an inherent evil in everyone no matter how good you are.

The three main symbols that were frequently used throughout the story were the conch, Simon, and The Lord of the Flies. The symbolism was key to the story because it created an additional meaning to the story causing an impact on the readers. Without the symbolism in the story, the readers wouldn't be able to make connections with the story or understand what the writer was trying to fully express.