“Lord of the Flies” is a book about human instincts and survival. “Lord of the Flies” is important because of the symbolism William Golding uses, as well as the main themes in the book. At first the book seems to be a simple story about a group of boys being stranded on a desolate island, but when you dig deeper you can see there is a lot more to the story. The boys are called to the beach by the conch, a symbol of order, and gathered around Ralph and Piggy. The boys call for a vote of who should be in charge and will most of the boys voted for Ralph, partially because he used the conch and partly because Ralph had a nice physical form. A group of choir boys voted for Jack, their ‘chief’ who has the presence of a leader. Jack is grudgingly defeated, which sparks resentment for Ralph in him, which eventually starts a fire of savagery.Golding loves to use symbolism, the book is loaded to the brim with analogies. Some of the most important are the conch, Piggy’s glasses, the beast, the choir boy’s long hair and face paint, and even the boys themselves. Piggy and Piggy’s specs represent intelligence and reason, his glasses are used to start the fire. The fire represents the hope of rescue and the fact that they used Piggy’s glasses is important because it takes intelligence to create a fire and understand the idea of rescue. The conch itself is one of the most important things to the story, as it respects the idea of order. The boys follow it and whoever holds it. The long hair and face paint symbolizes the idea of savagery.
The biggest connection to real life and “Lord of the Flies” is the concept of survival of the fittest and the lengths people will go to, to survive. The choirboys slowly become more aggressive and start hunting for meat, while Ralph and the younger boys search for berries and build huts out of leaves and stick.
This sounds like a really neat book! I like the concept of having lots of symbolism throughout the book! :) Great job on your summary too!
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