Symbolism in Lord of the Flies
Symbolism in Lord of the Flies
Symbolism is the narrative technique used to give significance or deeper meaning to certain people or objects, which represent some other figure. For example, a rose can be a symbol of love. Depending on the colour of the rose it may mean a particular kind of love (i.e. red roses symbolize passion and pink roses represent friendship).
Using the quotations provided, as well as your reading of the entire book, what might each of the following items from Lord of the Flies represent on a symbolic level?
In other words, what aspect of society does each person or item represent?
To help you, quotes have been provided that give hints to each meaning. But you may also refer back to other parts of the reading for help as well.
|SYMBOL |MEANING |
| |Chpt. 1 “…and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch” (22). |
|The conch shell |Chtp 11 “Piggy held up the conch and the booing sagged a little, then came up again to |
| |strength….I tell you, I got the conch!’ Surprisingly there was silence now…(179-180). |
| | |
| |Chpt 2: “’His specs –use then as burning glasses!’...His voice rose to a shriek of terror as |
|Piggy’s specs |Jack snatched the glasses off his face. ‘Mind out! Give ‘em back! I can hardly see!’” (41). |
| |Chpt 11: “But I don’t ask for my glasses back, not as a favor. I don’t ask you to be a sport,|
| |I’ll not because you’re strong, but because what’s right’s right. Give me my glasses, I’m |
| |going to say – you got to.” (171). |
| |Chpt 2: “But this is a good island. We – Jack, Simon and me- we climbed the mountain It’s |
|The island |wizard. There’s food and drink and – rocks…while we’re waiting we can have a good time on this|
| |island.” (34). |
| |Chpt 11 : “No one doubted the tribe would be at Castle Rock and when they came in sight of it |
| |they stopped with one accord. The densest tangle on the island, a mass of twisted stems, black|
| |and green and impenetrable, lay on their left and tall grass swayed before them.” (175) |
| |Chpt 1: “Beyond falls and cliffs there was a gash visible in the trees; there wee the splitered|
|The “Scar” |trunks and then the drag, leaving only a fringe of palm between the scar and the sea” (29). |
| | |
| | |
| |Chpt 5: “’Then I was frightened and I woke up. And I was outside the shelter by myself in the |
|The Beast |dark and the twisty things had gone away.’ The vivid horror of this, so possible an dso nakedly|
| |terrifying held them all silent.” (85) |
| |Chpt 8: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” said the head…. I’m |
| |part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they |
| |are?” (143). |
| |Chpt : “Jack held up the head and jammed the soft throat down on the pointed end of the stick |
|Lord of the Flies |which pierced through into the mouth….they listened, and the loudest noise was the buzzing of |
| |flies over spilled guts…This head is for the beast. It’s a gift.” (137) |
| |Chpt 8: “Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth. There was blackness within, a |
| |blackness that spread. ‘~or else.’ Said the Lord of the Flies, ‘we shall do you? See?” (144) |
| | |
|The signal fire |Chpt 5: “The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued |
| |except by luck, if we don’t keep a fire going? Is a fire too much for us to make?...Can’t you |
| |see we ought to – ought to die before we let the fire out?” (81) |
| | |
| |Chpt 1: “While the most obvious leader was Jack. But there was a stillness about Ralph as he |
|Ralph |sate that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, |
| |yet most powerfully, there was the conch. The being that had blown that, had sat waiting for |
| |them on the platform… was set apart” (22). |
| | |
| |Chpt 12: “The officer looked past him to the group of painted boys. ‘Who’s boss here?” ‘I am,’ |
| |said Ralph loudly. A little boy who wore the remains of an extraordinary black cap on his red |
| |hair and who carried the remains of a pair of spectacles at his waist, started forward, then |
| |changed his mind and stood still. (201). |
| |Chpt 5: “If Jack was chief we’d have all hunting and no fire” (93). |
|Jack |Chpt 3: “’I went on,’ said Jack. ‘I let them go. I had to go on. I-‘ He tried to convey the |
| |compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up” (51). |
| |Chpt 10: The chief led them, trotting |
|Simon |Chpt 3: “Here the littluns who had run after him caught up with him. They talked, cried out |
| |unintelligibly, lugged him toward the trees. Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon |
| |sunlight, 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.” (57) |
| |Chpt 6: “Simon, walking in front of Ralph, felt a flicker of incredulity – a beast with claws |
| |that scratched, that sat on a mountaintop, that left no tracks and yet was not fast enough to |
| |catch Samneric…he sighed. Other people could stand up and speak to an assembly, apparently, |
| |without that dreadful feeling of the pressure of personality.” (103) |
| |Chpt 9 “ The blue-white scar was constant, the noise unendurable. Simon was crying out |
| |something about a dead man on a hill. ‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat!’” (152). |
| |Chpt 5: “’You don’t really mean that we got to be frightened all the time of nothing? Life’ |
|Piggy |said Piggy expansively, ‘is scientific, that’s what it is..I know there’s no beast – not with |
| |claws and all that, I mean.’” (84) |
| |Chpt 10: “Ralph tried indignatntly to remember. There was something good about fire, |
| |something overwhelmingly good. ‘Ralph’s told you often enough,’ said Piggy moodily. ‘How else |
| |are we going to be rescued?’… don’t you understand? What’s the good of wishing for radios and |
| |boats?’ (163). |
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