In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, extensive symbolism is used to help convey the novel's theme. Setting, use of diction, character traits, and social commentary are all employed by Golding. Using such literary tools, Golding makes the reader understand the true function and purpose of Lord of the Flies.
             First, the island itself is intended to represent an Eden-like place, untouched by man (Golding 12.) However, this paradise is corrupted by the sudden arrival of man. It is made clear that Golding considers man's arrival an unpleasant event for the untouched island by describing the plane's crash sight a "scar", a wound that never fully heals (Golding 7.)
             The conch is meant to represent power and order. Power is represented by the fact that one must be holding it to speak, and the meetings or gatherings that it's used to call and hold display order. The conch's power is presented early in the book as the children vote for Ralph to be chief, simply because he was the one with the conch. (Golding 22) Another example of the conch's power is the fact that throughout the book, until disorder sets in, the conch is the only tool that can call a meeting; it brings a sense of order and civilization to an otherwise untamed setting.
             The dense forest that surrounds them represents the unknown, a scary place that elicits fear from the children. As the novel progresses, the boys slowly begin to explore the jungle. In turn, the exploration of the dark jungle is meant to represent the boys beginning to explore their own primal instincts, the urge to hunt and kill. In Jack's case, the 'exploration' goes further as he begins to become evil himself, abandoning reason and logic in favor of his basic instinct to rule cruelly and to kill anyone who opposes his attempt to rule. By this, Golding is implying that evil lurks deep in the "jungle" of man's unconscious; gover...