46 pages • 1 hour read
William GoldingLord of the Flies
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1954A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Fire
The fires represent rescueand, therefore, hope. It also represents light, and a pushing back of the darkness. The darkness here is the savagery that threatens to overwhelm the marooned boys. With the fire, they have both light and hope. Without it, they are cast into the darkness.
Fire also represents destruction, if left unchecked. Twice the boys let the fire get away and burn the island. The mention of the atomic bomb back in civilization is another example: the fire, i.e. the hope of humanity, has gotten away from them.The fire becomes destructive, representing how the best intentions of men—or boys—can become corrupted if not guarded carefully.
The Conch
The conch shell represents civility and order. Whomever speaks must hold the conch. Ralph calls them all together with the voice of the conch. Even in the beginning, the boys shout over whomever is holding the conch. Piggy, as the intelligent voice of reason, constantly reminds them to speak only with the conch. When Jack and Ralph begin to split apart, Ralph is afraid of blowing the conch to call Jack back. He is afraid that Jack will not listen, and their government—their civility and order—will break down. By the time the conch is shattered, their civility has been shattered as well.
Face Paint and Spears
Jack begins painting his face early on. He also carries a spear. His face paint is ostensibly to camouflage him so that the pigs won’t see him, but several times the paint is referred to as a mask, concealing who he really is: “They understood only too well the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought” (172). The spears were supposed to be used to kill boars, but by the end they are weapons to use against Simon and Ralph. The rocks that Roger threw at Henry without hitting him become a giant rock he kills Piggy with. The weapons of savages—rocks and spears—have become the weapons of choice for Jack and his hunters, which means Jack and his hunters have become savages.
