Social Criticism in Lord of the Flies
At the time Golding wrote the novel, Lord of the Flies, the world was caught in war with itself. Certain events during WWII such as the holocaust led people to begin to question civilization and human nature. Golding uses the Lord of the Flies as a social criticism which analyzes how a civilized culture can still commit primitive and even barbaric atrocities. Golding uses symbolism to create a social criticism. In Lord of the Flies, the conch represents democracy and order. Initially, the conch is perhaps the boys closest link to civilization, it is their form of government. Where Golding wrote, "Ralph smiled and held up the conch for silence."(23) shows how the conch calls for respect towards the beholder. However, the farther through the story the conch holds less and less power, symbolizing how the boys are slowly reverting from their government and order to a more primitive savage state. Therefore, it can be inferred th
This shows how Golding uses the boys hair to symbolize not only their most basic nature, but how far their grasp on civilization has slipped. Rather than standing for government though, they resemble the technology of society, the gift of fire. Golding realized this and used symbols such as the conch, Piggy's glasses, and the boys hair to represent how they tried but failed to recreate a society. Another aspect to the boys hair is that as time passes, their hair is described as long and straggly, with dirt and sticks mixed in. When Golding writes,"'Has anyone got any matches?'. Golding also uses Piggy's glasses as symbolic of civilization. To many, Lord of the Flies is just another adventure story about boys stranded on an island, but there are some who realize the true purpose behind the story about society, and how it is the only thing that keeps humans from their own evil selves. Fire is perhaps one of the single most important tools of man. This rough and dirty appearance in contrast to their neat and formal outfits from the beginning suggests that they have lost their civilization. "(7) whom the reader soon discovers is Ralph. The reader can use it to identify characteristics of each boy and mark the changes they have undergone while on the island. Throughout the book, Golding uses the boys' hair to represent their state of nature. However, Piggy's hair remains the same, and accordingly he remains the most civilized through the story. So on a certain level, his glasses not only represent the civilized technology they have, but also their only return to civilization. But fire is also their only means of signaling any help, it is their only hope for escape.
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