The three symbols I used for my book cover is Broken Glasses, Fire, and the Beast. On the book cover, you can see a fire made smoking up the sky. In the smoke from the fire, you can see two red eyes. These two red eyes are the beast that the characters in Lord of the Flies imagined. Next to the fire is broken glasses (left). These three symbols show significant symbolism through the book.
The first symbol I will bring up from the four is the broken glasses. The broken glasses belonged to Piggy. The glasses were used to help create the fire for the boys. Piggy's glasses glasses are a symbol of the intellectual and ordered side of humanity. They are a symbol of this because the glasses are the only thing left the boys have that is a part of modern civilization. When the boys don't know how to make a fire, they have to rely on Piggy's glasses. The breaking of the glasses represents the breaking of the last thing the boys had that was close to humanity. Without the glasses, Piggy says "the Island is a sea of meaningless color". This was Piggy's weakness because without his glasses, he could not see anything and didn't know what to do anymore. After Piggy's glasses broke, the boys on the island began to act more like savages and animals which was most of the reason why Piggy ended up dying.
The next symbol is the fire. The fire is a symbol of hope and at the same time destruction. The boys decide to make a fire to try to signal navy ships and get rescued. Ralph says "We've got to have special people looking after the fire. Any day there may be a ship out there and if we have a signal going they'll come and take us off." This quote helps define the piece of how the fire symbolizes hope. They realize if a ship sees the fire, they can finally get off the island. Just as everything seemed to be working out and the fire was going to be the savior, something bad happened. The author says "The fire began to run desperately fast with the heat beating on his left side and facing forward like a tide." The fire goes from being the boys help to becoming the thing that causes them a lot of trouble. This is when the fire begins to symbolize destruction. The fire that began to be the answer to their prayers, began to burn down the jungle and cause chaos.
In the fire on the cover, you can see smoke coming from it. There are two symbols with the smoke. The first is the smoke is part of the fires symbol of destruction and that smoke is like chaos. You do not know what to do when caught up in a bunch of smoke. Like the boys on the island didn't know what to do when the jungle fire started. If you look within the smoke you can see two red eyes. These red eyes are the eyes of the beast. The beast symbolizes evil and darkness. All of the boys see the beast differently and that's why the beast symbolizes our inner fear. Piggy says "I know there isn't no beast. Not with claws and all that I mean, but I know there isn't no fear either." Piggy thinks there is nothing to fear. Simon would say otherwise, he says "the beast is only us". Ralph and Jack claim that the beast is an ape. There is no clear answer on what the beast is and that's what brings the symbol that the beast is people's biggest fears.
What it seemed about all of these symbols was that they were all meant to be in good intentions, but in the end did not work out. By the end of the book, the boys behavior is the equivalent of savage animals. This is shown through the book through the symbols. When they take Piggy's glasses, they lose a smart boy who was the only person they had that knew what he was doing and was closest to civilization. When the glasses broke, Piggy was nothing and was clueless. This foreshadows the future when he dies. He was basically dead when he couldn't see anymore. The symbols are very significant throughout the book.