How does Golding use symbols in lord of the flies.

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How does Golding use symbols in lord of the flies.

In lord of the flies Golding uses a lot of symbolism. The book is a symbol in its self, it is an allegory, and it works on two levels. It is written as a boy’s adventure story but it also symbolises mankind and its corrupt civilisation. The social historical context of the book is based on Golding’s personal experiences in the Second World War. He was appalled by the concentration camps and disillusioned the atomic bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Because of these Golding said “evil is not just over there it is here aswell," This is also where he gets the pessimistic view that all mankind are fundamentally evil

Golding uses the conch to symbolise many different things throughout the novel. He uses it to symbolise an adult figure and authority, whoever has the conch has the power to talk and say what they like. “I’ve got the conch.” This authority keeps the boys inline at the start of the book, “we’ll have rules.” The only boys at first who fail to gain power from the conch are Simon and the boy with the mulberry birthmark, because they feel embarrassed and pressurised by the group. It represents democracy, “he can hold the conch and he won’t be interrupted, except by me.” With the equality of every boy everyone can have a say in what is happening and they can decide together and not just have one boy dictating and making all the decisions by himself, so everything is fair. As well as representing democracy it also represents power, whoever has it in their possession has the power on the island. They can call all the boys whenever they want. It also is powerful on a personal level, for example it gives Piggy power that he wouldn’t normally have, when jack interrupts him he is willing to stand up for his democratic rights, “I got the conch!” However this power applies only whilst they sill respect the conch and authority. Jack is the first boy to realise that there is no real authority on the island to tell them what to do, “Bollocks to the rules!” By the end of the book the only person left respecting the conch and democracy is piggy, all the other boys leave democracy and join Jack’s dictatorship.

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Golding describes the conch as white and cream, “in colour the shell was deep cream touched here and there with fading pink.” These colours are mainly white and white is associated with good and fairness. People value democracy very highly and in the past have fought and even died for it. Democracy is seen as fair, good, and this is also what the colours of the shell are associated with. Democracy, like the shell, is very precious and is easily broken. Golding describes the shell as if it is democracy as an object. When it is broken that is ...

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