Symbols in Lord of the Flies
In the jungle on a sunny island with lots of food and game is set a novel that
might look like it would be about a paradise, but is actually a story about the darkness of
human nature and a falling a part society. Lord of the Flies has imagery show the
superficialness of civilizing. With metaphor and symbolism Golding illustrates the boys’
gradual transformation away from civilized behavior, back toward the natural way of
mankind: chaos and the selfish pursuit of pleasure. The changes in objects like Piggy’s
glasses and the conch shell show the dying of society, and things like the killing of the
sow are metaphors that show the loss of civilization’s values.
Introductory paragraph: You use a hook to get your readers’ attention by comparing
what they might expect (a sunny island paradise) with what they get (a story about the
decay of society). This is effective in getting your readers’ interest and introducing the
story! What you don’t have in this intro is a summary. Check your rubric or ask your
instructor to see if they require you to briefly describe the events of the novel.
Thesis: As I understand it, you’re saying William Golding uses symbolism and metaphors—
specifically the glasses, the conch, and the sow—to show how the boys on the island lose
their civilized behavior and descend into chaos. This sounds specific, arguable, and
persuasive! It looks like you support this argument with one paragraph about Piggy’s
glasses, one paragraph about the conch, and one paragraph about the sow. This structure
makes sense to me!
One claim you make, however, isn’t supported. You say that Golding is telling us that this
lack of order and civilized behavior is the “natural way of mankind.” That sounds
believable! But it looks like your paper doesn’t support anywhere the idea that the boys’
deterioration is natural. If that’s the case, you have two options:
A) Delete this section from your thesis.
B) Add a paragraph supporting the idea that Golding thinks this deterioration is
“natural.” You could look at images and symbols from the “natural world” of the
island that undergo a process of decay to make your point. Or you could consider
the naval officer who appears at the end of the novel—he’s a grown up and he’s still
fighting a war! So is this lack of civilization our natural state?
A Note on Grammar: It looks like you have a handful of grammatical and typographical
errors in your essay. A couple things to watch out for are typos (go ahead and click
“Spelling and Grammar” under the “Tools” heading to see errors underlined in red),
prepositions (for example, “tendency at shortsighted goals” should read “tendency toward
shortsighted goals”), and punctuation (commas go inside quotation marks; also don’t forget
to double check that your periods are followed by capital letters, and that you have just one
space between words). I’ve fixed the errors in the first paragraph to give you a few ideas
about how to make the changes in the rest. Keep up the good work!
Piggy’s glasses are one of most importnat symbols and their change proves the
breaking of reason and tendency at shortsighted goals. Form the start, Piggy is the
voice of reasoning. Piggy wants to Ralph use the conch to call the boys on the island
together, Piggy who sees they need for shelters, and Piggy tells them off them for the
uncontrolled fire that kills a Littluns. “Acting like a crowd of kids”, is his constant saying
as he watches things get into chaos (Golding 38). Piggy acts like an adult and sees that
they need to be rescue. His glasses mean clear sight and rationality. Bigger damage to
the spectacles symbolizes more damage to reason. Their first break happens where
Jack is so obsessed with of hunting he forgets they signal fire When the consequences
of his actions show, Jack lashes out at reason and Piggy, knocking off Piggy’s glasses,
and breaking one lens. Jack picks pleasure and hunting instead of tending the fire ,
others followed him, which shows more self-indulgence when they know its bad.
Body Paragraph 1: This paragraph discusses how Piggy’s glasses are a symbol of the
boys’ loss of civilization in terms of their loss of reason.
The topic sentence communicates this, and you back it up with evidence from the text!
There’s one connection missing. You 1) prove that Piggy is the voice of reason, 2) explain
how that makes his glasses a symbol of reason, and 3) discuss how Jack chooses pleasure
over tending the fire. What's the link between 2 and 3? How does Jack's choice show a lack
of reason?
As the object with the power to call the boys and control meetings and talking,
the conch equals structure, order, civilized. It’s significance is clear form it’s discovery,
when it comes to choosing a leader. Piggy is smart and Jack is arrogant but Ralph is
elected because he holds the conch which means controlling society. But slowly the
conch begins to lose its power. The boys start to ignore the rule of the conch, talking
over each other and shouting those who have the right to speak, as happens to Simon
and Piggy more and more. A pivotal moment comes when Jack, frustrated with the
discussion over the beast, breaks up everyone and the boys chaos inspired by Jack’s
description of the the hunting. Piggy tells Ralph to call them back, but Ralph
understands they better not: “If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve
had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals.” The conch’s weakening
hold over the boys shows to the deterioration of society and order. The conch shatters
and Piggy falls to his death, Golding’s language shows civilization “ceased to exist” ,
too.
Body Paragraph 2: This paragraph argues that the conch is a symbol of order and
civilization, and that its destruction reflects the loss of order and civilization among the
boys.
A transition between the last paragraph and this one is missing. You could create one by
linking the conch to the glasses (ex: “Like the glasses, the conch…” or “Unlike the glasses,
the conch…”).
The topic sentence expresses the first part of your idea (that the conch symbolizes order),
but not the second: that its destruction symbolizes the destruction of civilization. I suggest
you add the second point, since it’s part of your central argument and what the paragraph
is going to prove.
On the whole, though, the paragraph uses solid evidence from the text to support the idea
convincingly!
the metaphorical rape of the sow. Up till now, Jack and his people kill pigs
because of necessity “We needed meat,” Jack says (Golding 70).This scene the tone of
the killing changes, showing pleasure is more important than necessity. Golding shows
the boys pleasure: “Roger ran round the heap, prodding with his spear whenever
pigflesh appeared. […] Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his
hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her.”
(Golding) The boys want pleasure at the cost of another living being, but at the
beginning of the book, where Jack finds himself unable to kill a struggling piglet. The
murder is a turning point. Metaphorical language shows the loss of innocence and going
back to worse of human nature.
Body Paragraph 3: This paragraph seems to argue that the rape of the sow is a metaphor
showing how the boys devolve to the point that they are only interested in pleasure, and
this leads to a loss of innocence.
Both a transition and a topic sentence are missing. A transition could use some of the same
techniques as the paragraph above: “Like the conch, the sow represents…” or “Unlike the
conch, the sow suggests…” A topic sentence could rely on the same techniques you used
effectively in the last paragraph when you summarized in one sentence the argument you
were going to make.
The paragraph provides lots of great textual evidence, but in a couple places the connection
between the loss of civilization and the quotes you rely on isn't completely clear (see
comments in the text).
Through the symbolism of the glasses, the conch, and the murder of the sow,
Golding shows the collapse of society. The death of the glasses represents reason. The
conch order goes away. The sow’s dying is the end of innocents.
Conclusion: The conclusion very briefly summarizes the arguments made in the paragraph
above.
Since this conclusion is on the short side, it’s a great place to elaborate on your ideas. Check
your rubric and see what your instructor requires you to put in your conclusion. In the
absence of specific instructions you could either:
A) Recapitulate your ideas in greater detail, carefully linking them to your thesis
statement.
B) Briefly introduce and counter an opposing perspective. Perhaps someone thinks
these objects aren’t symbolic, or maybe a friend of yours has written a paper
arguing it’s more useful to think about the people as symbols than it is to think
about the objects. Tell them why they’re wrong!
C) Offer the reader further reflections, or your personal opinions (still in the third
person). Tell us why Golding’s novel is important. Or, even better, tell us why it’s
important that we understand Golding’s symbolism. Will it help us live better lives?
Foresee dangers? Or just understand the human condition?
Final thoughts: This paper has an excellent thesis and does a great job pulling evidence
from the text to support it! The argument is solid and the ideas are persuasive.
To recap, the suggestions above are designed to help you revise by:
1) Making sure connections between ideas are clear (especially how the evidence from
the text reinforces the idea of a loss of civilization)
2) Developing transitions between paragraphs and creating topic sentences
3) Expanding on the conclusion in accordance with your rubric
4) Proofreading for grammatical and typographical errors (see note on grammar)
Best of luck with your revisions!