Lord of the Flies
The Struggle Between Savagery and Civilization In the book "Lord of the Flies", the author uses many symbols to convey meaning. However, they all tie into two concepts that run parallel during the book: civilization and savagery. The two conflicting ideas are battling, with a result foreshadowed from the beginning of the book. Savagery and human evil wins. However, during the book, the meaning of the symbols representing civilization and chaos change. The first, Piggy's glasses, goes from being hope for order to confirming the victory of chaos. The second, the beast, goes from being an illusory horror to representing human nature. At first, the glasses and the civilization they represented were able to hold the beast in check, but as the book progressed evil and savagery became more powerful and destroyed civilization on the island. In the very beginning of the book the glasses represented the hope for civilization. They were introduced with Piggy, a fat, ponderous boy who wanted reason, order and civilization. Piggy's physical aspects and actions closely identified him with adult civilization. The glasses were similarly connected with civilization. Piggy's ideas represented the hope that civilization could be main
All of the boys begin to act differently due to fear of the beast. In that way the glasses and the beast were symbolic of the main idea of the book: the evil that is within every person's heart. tained on the island, and that they could eventually be rescued. The corresponding loss of civilization was equally significant. The changing roles of the glasses and the beast show the process. And in that realization, the reader is brought to understand that the beast is truly human nature. Clearly, Jack is not thinking rationally, and he is seeking primitive, superstitious methods to stop the beast. Without the glasses, the boys cannot be rescued. In Simon's bizarre talk with the Lord of the Flies, on pages 132 and 133, he saw what the beast is. The fear of the beast leads to Jack taking control, with offers of meat and protection from the beast. The beast is momentarily dismissed as a nightmare, or phantasm. Simon's death at the hands of the other boys reinforces that idea.
Common topics in this essay:
Lord Flies,
Africa India',
I'm Beast',
Ralph Piggy,
Simon Samneric,
civilization island,
glasses beast,
signal fire,
lord flies,
glasses civilization,
fear beast,
Savagery Civilization,
signal fire boys,
book glasses,
boys rescued,
represented hope civilization,
illusory horror,
simon killed,
|
Acceptance Essays
