Significance of Ending:
            
             The conclusion to Lord of the Flies is not exactly fit the criteria of a happy ending. When Ralph saw the officer he was baffled instead of ecstatic and grateful for saving his life. Ralph was grievous and "wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy". Ralph weeps for the end of civilization as he had seen on the island. The end of innocence and the darkness of man's heart symbolize the progression of the deterioration of civilization on the island. The reference to Piggy's fall and destruction of the conch signifies the end of rational, civilized thinking, law and order.
             "For a moment he had a fleeting picture of the strange glamour that had once invested the beaches. But the island was scorched up like dead wood ...". It is here when Ralph realized that he would never be the same person that arrived on the island some time ago. The recollection of the island before and what had happened to it, is a metaphor for the contrasting change that had occurred.
             The naval officer serves as a contrast from the savage boys on the island. He was wearing a uniform while Ralph was filthy and untidy. He frowned upon the He represents the "adult world" in which discipline and social order exists in conjunction with the war. The naval officer, civilized and disciplined, was ashamed and embarrassed that British boys would act in such a savage way. This is very ironic and to a certain extent hypocritical because he too is at war, and had probably killed more than two people with the deadly sub-machine guns, but yet he looks at the boys in disgust for acting the way they did. Despite their differences, they do have similarities. Both the boys and the officer had killed other human beings, and are both in wars.
             The purpose of the conclusion is to draw a contrast between the ...