Symbols in Lord of the Flies

The Conch
1. democracy, social order, respect, power
2. "magic shell"
3. R: "Whoever holds the conch gets to speak"
4. "The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist."
5. Conch is destroyed: end of order
The Fire
1. fire destroys island but is also only hope of rescue: paradoxically symbol of hope of rescue and destruction of island
2. "A fire, make a fire!" - recognize that fire is essential for survival
3. R: "The fire is the most important thing on the island"
4. R: "Can't you see we ought to die before we let the fire out!"
5. last connection to civilization
6. loss of fire: loss of desire to be rescued
Rules
1. R: "Rules are the only things we've got!"
2. Roger: "Rules! We'll have lots of rules! And if anyone breaks em-!"
3. Jack: "We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages, we're English."
Pig's Head on a Stick
1. Part of Simon's hallucination
2. "You knew didn't you? I'm part of you."
3. Beelzebub
4. "fun": foreshadows Simon's death
The Beast
1. shows boys' paranoia
2. Simon: "Maybe it's only us"
3. represents primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings
4. becomes Totemic God: "It's a gift for the beast"
5. beast is only a dead man
6. "The beast, harmless and horrible"
7. "at once heroic and sick"
8. "I saw it.. a beastie"
Piggy's glasses
1. last connection to civilization
2. power: fire
3. Piggy's intelligence/Piggy's physical weakness
4. glasses break: social order breaks down
5. "Piggy's glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks"
6. "He was a chief now in truth.. from his left hand dangled Piggy's glasses"
Ralph's hair
1. descent into savagery
2. time spent on island
3. Ralph's obsession
4. "like the tendrils of a creeper"
5. "flung the mass back"
  1. "filthy hair"
6. "pushes" hair off face 12 times
Wounds
1. boys leave "gashes"
2. water "warmer than blood"
3. "scar" - man's destruction of Edenic island
4. "sulphurous explosion" - smell of hell
Painted Faces
1. "The mask was a thing of its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-conciousness"
2. reveals boys' true nature
3. paint "liberates" boys into savagery
4. loss of humanity
5. loss of identity: boys become tribe
Pig Hunts
1. foreshadows violence & death on island
2. "kill the pig, cut its throat, spill its blood, do him in"
3. "dreadful eruption"
4. "air was full of sweat and blood and terror"
5. "terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream"
6. boys hunt mothering sow: symbolic of rape
  1. as if they are killing their own mothers
7. exerting power over helpless animal
8. play-act hunting ritual: Simon is killed
Simon's death
1. the boys "leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore"
2. "no words, no movement but the tearing of teeth and claws"
3. frenzied, savage, graphic

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	Creado por lowri_luxton hace más de 10 años