Symbols in Lord of the Flies
In the jungle on an sunny island with lots of food and game is set a novel about that might look like it would be about a paradise, but is actually a story about the darkness of human nature and a falling a part society. Lord of the Flies has imagery show the superficialness of civilizing. With metaphor and symbolism Golding illustrates the boys’ gradual transformation away from civilized behavior, back toward the natural way of maknindmankind: chaos and selfishly purusing pleasurethe selfish pursuit of pleasure. The changes in objects, like Piggy’s glasses and the conch shell, show the dying of society, and thingslike the the killing of the sow are metaphors that show the loss of civilization’s values.
Introductory paragraph: You use a hook to get your readers’ attention by comparing what they might expect (a sunny island paradise) with what they get (a story about the decay of society). This is effective in getting your readers’ interest and introducing the story! What you don’t have in this intro is a summary. Check your rubric or ask your instructor to see if they require you to briefly describe the events of the novel.
Thesis: As I understand it, you’re saying William Golding uses symbolism and metaphors—specifically the glasses, the conch, and the sow—to show how the boys on the island lose their civilized behavior and descend into chaos. This sounds specific, arguable, and persuasive! It looks like you support this argument with one paragraph about Piggy’s glasses, one paragraph about the conch, and one paragraph about the sow. This structure makes sense to me!
One claim you make, however, isn’t supported. You say that Golding is telling us that this lack of order and civilized behavior is the “natural way of mankind.” That sounds believable! But it looks like your paper doesn’t support anywhere the idea that the boys’ deterioration is natural. If that’s the case, you have two options:
A) Delete this section from your thesis.
B) Add a paragraph supporting the idea that Golding thinks this deterioration is “natural.” You could look at images and symbols from the “natural world” of the island that undergo a process of decay to make your point. Or you could consider the naval officer who appears at the end of the novel—he’s a grown up and he’s still fighting a war! So is this lack of civilization our natural state?
A Note on Grammar: It looks like you have a handful of grammatical and typographical errors in your essay. A couple things to watch out for are typos (go ahead and click “Spelling and Grammar” under the “Tools” heading to see errors underlined in red), prepositions (for example, “tendency at shortsighted goals” should read “tendency toward shortsighted goals”), and punctuation (commas go inside quotation marks; also don’t forget to double check that your periods are followed by capital letters, and that you have just one space between words). I’ve fixed the errors in the first paragraph to give you a few ideas about how to make the changes in the rest. Keep up the good work!
Piggy’s glasses are one of most importnat symbols and their change proves the breaking of reason and tendency at shortsighted goals. Form the start, Piggy is the voice of reasoning. Piggy wants to Ralph use the conch to call the boys on the island together, Piggy who sees they need for shelters, and Piggy tells them off them for the uncontrolled fire that kills a Littluns. “Acting like a crowd of kids”, is his constant saying as he watches things get into chaos (Golding 38). Piggy acts like an adult and sees that they need to be rescue. His glasses mean clear sight and rationality. Bigger damage to the spectacles symbolizes more damage to reason. Their first break happens where Jack is so obsessed with of hunting he forgets they signal fire When the consequences of his actions show, Jack lashes out at reason and Piggy, knocking off Piggy’s glasses, and breaking one lens. Jack picks pleasure and hunting instead of tending the fire , others followed him, which shows more self-indulgence when they know its bad.
Body Paragraph 1: This paragraph discusses how Piggy’s glasses are a symbol of the boys’ loss of civilization in terms of their loss of reason.
The topic sentence communicates this, and you back it up with evidence from the text!
There’s one connection missing. You 1) prove that Piggy is the voice of reason, 2) explain how that makes his glasses a symbol of reason, and 3) discuss how Jack chooses pleasure over tending the fire. What's the link between 2 and 3? How does Jack's choice show a lack of reason?
As the object with the power to call the boys and control meetings and talking, the conch equals structure, order, civilized. It’s significance is clear form it’s discovery, when it comes to choosing a leader. Piggy is smart and Jack is arrogant but Ralph is elected because he holds the conch which means controlling society. But slowly the conch begins to lose its power. The boys start to ignore the rule of the conch, talking over each other and shouting those who have the right to speak, as happens to Simon and Piggy more and more. A pivotal moment comes when Jack, frustrated with the discussion over the beast, breaks up everyone and the boys chaos inspired by Jack’s description of the the hunting. Piggy tells Ralph to call them back, but Ralph understands they better not: “If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals.” The conch’s weakening hold over the boys shows to the deterioration of society and order. The conch shatters and Piggy falls to his death, Golding’s language shows civilization “ceased to exist” , too.
Body Paragraph 2: This paragraph argues that the conch is a symbol of order and civilization, and that its destruction reflects the loss of order and civilization among the boys.
A transition between the last paragraph and this one is missing. You could create one by linking the conch to the glasses (ex: “Like the glasses, the conch…” or “Unlike the glasses, the conch…”).
The topic sentence expresses the first part of your idea (that the conch symbolizes order), but not the second: that its destruction symbolizes the destruction of civilization. I suggest you add the second point, since it’s part of your central argument and what the paragraph is going to prove.
On the whole, though, the paragraph uses solid evidence from the text to support the idea convincingly!
the metaphorical rape of the sow. Up till now, Jack and his people kill pigs because of necessity “We needed meat,” Jack says (Golding 70).This scene the tone of the killing changes, showing pleasure is more important than necessity. Golding shows the boys pleasure: “Roger ran round the heap, prodding with his spear whenever pigflesh appeared. […] Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her.” (Golding) The boys want pleasure at the cost of another living being, but at the beginning of the book, where Jack finds himself unable to kill a struggling piglet. The murder is a turning point. Metaphorical language shows the loss of innocence and going back to worse of human nature.
Body Paragraph 3: This paragraph seems to argue that the rape of the sow is a metaphor showing how the boys devolve to the point that they are only interested in pleasure, and this leads to a loss of innocence.
Both a transition and a topic sentence are missing. A transition could use some of the same techniques as the paragraph above: “Like the conch, the sow represents…” or “Unlike the conch, the sow suggests…” A topic sentence could rely on the same techniques you used effectively in the last paragraph when you summarized in one sentence the argument you were going to make.
The paragraph provides lots of great textual evidence, but in a couple places the connection between the loss of civilization and the quotes you rely on isn't completely clear (see comments in the text).
Through the symbolism of the glasses, the conch, and the murder of the sow, Golding shows the collapse of society. The death of the glasses represents reason. The conch order goes away. The sow’s dying is the end of innocents.
Conclusion: The conclusion very briefly summarizes the arguments made in the paragraph above.
Since this conclusion is on the short side, it’s a great place to elaborate on your ideas. Check your rubric and see what your instructor requires you to put in your conclusion. In the absence of specific instructions you could either:
A) Recapitulate your ideas in greater detail, carefully linking them to your thesis statement.
B) Briefly introduce and counter an opposing perspective. Perhaps someone thinks these objects aren’t symbolic, or maybe a friend of yours has written a paper arguing it’s more useful to think about the people as symbols than it is to think about the objects. Tell them why they’re wrong!
C) Offer the reader further reflections, or your personal opinions (still in the third person). Tell us why Golding’s novel is important. Or, even better, tell us why it’s important that we understand Golding’s symbolism. Will it help us live better lives? Foresee dangers? Or just understand the human condition?
Final thoughts: This paper has an excellent thesis and does a great job pulling evidence from the text to support it! The argument is solid and the ideas are persuasive.
To recap, the suggestions above are designed to help you revise by:
1) Making sure connections between ideas are clear (especially how the evidence from the text reinforces the idea of a loss of civilization)
2) Developing transitions between paragraphs and creating topic sentences
3) Expanding on the conclusion in accordance with your rubric
4) Proofreading for grammatical and typographical errors (see note on grammar)
Best of luck with your revisions!