Character Symbolism in Lord of the Flies
Extra Credit/Enrichment Assignment
Now that we are just about done with the novel Lord of the Flies, it should be quite clear
to you that William Golding did not simply write a story about some boys who get
stranded on a desert island. Time and time again we see that the story can be read on
more than one level. We have the simple plot of the survival of the boys, but within that
plot lay many different levels of symbolism and metaphor. Some of the most obvious
symbols that we have discussed are the conch = power, Piggy’s glasses = science/fire and
the Lord of the Flies itself representing Beelzebub (Satan). But along with these static
objects representing different things, we also have dynamic characters that can be seen as
representing another person or embodiment of a person/being from history and/or
religion.
For this extra credit assignment, you are to choose one character from the book and
illustrate how Golding might have been using that character to represent or symbolize
someone/something else. There is no “wrong” answer for this assignment but proof of the
symbolism must come directly from the text.
Some possible ideas are Simon representing Jesus Christ, Jack representing Hitler or
Mussolini or Ralph representing Winston Churchill. Who you choose is up to you but
you must justify your choice using Golding’s words and quotes.
There is no limit on how long the paper must be but how much extra credit you earn is
(obviously) dependent on how well you make and illustrate your point. You can
potentially earn up to 20 additional points that you can add on to any combination of tests
and quizzes. You can also use your point towards skipping a homework or two.
Good luck and have fun!