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Metaphor Analysis
Beast: The beast, the Lord of the Flies, is seen as a real
object on the island which frightens the boys. Actually the beast is
something internal; the Lord of the Flies is in soul and mind of the
boys, leading them to the natural chaos of a society with no reasoning
adults. Only Simon understands what the real beast is, but is killed
when he tries to tell the boys about the Lord of the Flies.
Conch: The conch shell symbolizes the law and order of the old adult world
which Piggy tries so desperately to protect. The conch represents all
the authority which the boys are so used to obeying. When Roger destroys
the conch, anarchy quickly ensues because any hope of strong, central
leadership has been abandoned. The island society collapses into chaos.
Facepaint: This is the excuse many of the boys use for living as hunting savages,
instead of civilized English citizens. The paint symbolizes the
smoke-screen the beast uses to infiltrate the boys’ souls.
Fire/Smoke: The smoke of the signal fire symbolizes the last best hope of the boys
being rescued. To Piggy and Ralph, the fire represents the moral
influence of their old life in
England
. When the
fire goes out, Ralph loses his bearings, unsure of his next move.
The
fire is diatonically opposed to hunting, the activity of anarchy on the
island.
Island:
Golding
purposefully picked an island to be the landing place of the crashed
plane because an island is isolated from the rest of society. The boys
have no contact with the outside world and must look to themselves to
solve the problems of their own micro-society. In this way, the island,
which symbolizes isolation, serves as a perfect backdrop for the
frailties of human nature which eventually surface.
Glasses: The glasses symbolize the voice of reason and logic among the boys.
Piggy defends his glasses even more than the conch. Piggy, who
represents the superego of the boys’ (and society’s) collective
personality, uses his glasses to find solutions to the boys’ problems.
The most important solution the glasses find is the lighting of the
fire, the boys’ best chance of being rescued.
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