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William Golding's Lord Of The Flies: Character Analysis

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In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, a group of boys have survived a plane crash and have landed on an island. Without any grownups, the boys are forced to learn how to survive and cooperate by themselves, but the boys will soon be uncoordinated. The boys lose their innocence, and most will turn into savages. In developing the theme of the predatory, bestial atavistic nature of man, Golding employs numerous symbols using characters, symbolic acts, and objects. Of the groups of symbols, characters in Lord of the Flies symbolize different aspects of man. Some characters represent the different personalities that are involved with Sigmund Freud's id, ego, and superego. Piggy, a fat boy who wears spectacles, represents the superego as he is …show more content…
At the start of the book, Ralph calls an assembly with a conch, and during this assembly Ralph asks everybody “have a vote”(22) for who should be chief. This act symbolizes democracy and order. Rather than anointing himself, Ralph chooses to be civil by asking for a vote, an act which shows his past life in a civilized country. Another symbolic act would be Roger's throwing rocks at Henry but purposely missing. Roger would “pick up a stone, aimed, and throw it at Henry”(62) but “threw it to miss”(62) as he did not dare hit Henry for the “taboo of the old life”(62) was “invisible yet strong”(62). Like Ralph, Roger's old life of being civil and law-abiding shows as the idea of law and order from civilization has been ingrained into Roger's thinking to the point where Roger does not dare hit Henry. Jack and his group of savages paint their own face, and this act makes Jack and his tribe act completely different. By painting their own faces, the boys remove any individuality and now have a mob mentality, which turns them into savages. Another symbolic act that is performed by Jack's hunting group shows savagery and the bestial nature in man. The act is the dancing or hunting reenacting ritual where a boy acts as a pig and the hunters would dance around him. During this ritual they would chant, “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! …show more content…
The object that represents warmth and safety is fire which separates man from animals or beasts of the wild. Fire represents warmth as it cooks food, keeps people warm during the cold, and provides light. Throughout the novel, fire mainly symbolizes safety as fire is constantly mentioned as the signal that represents human life on the unknown island because fire distinguishes humans from animals in the wild. Fire distinguishes man from animal, and the priority for making a fire that is used to call for help slowly disappears as more boys turn more bestial or savage. This gradual disappearance for fire represents how the boys are slowly turning more beast-like rather than human. The conch that Ralph uses is a symbol that represents order and stability. Ralph blows into the conch numerous times to call an assembly, but Ralph also “give[s] the conch to the next person to speak” so that “he[the person] won't be interrupted. Except by me[Ralph]”(33). Calling an assembly represents civilized people joining together for a meeting so that order can be established, and holding the conch to grant speaking rights gives order to the assembly by allowing only the holder to speak without interruption. Another symbolic object would be the choir that Ralph sees “marching approximately in step in two parallel lines”(19). Marching in step and being a choir represents another distinguishable trait of

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