Lord Of The Flies Symbols

One of Golding's main techniques for presenting his dramatic conflict involves the use of symbols. Lord of the Flies is a highly symbolic novel, and many of its symbols are readily interpreted. The symbols representing the main themes and how they evolve through out the novel are: the conch shell, Piggy’s glasses, the fire/signal fire, and the lord of the flies/beast. “ The whole book is symbolic in nature.� (p.204) William Golding tries to prove his point by making each of the symbols represent something that is actively changing on the island. Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The conch shell is the first important discovery Piggy and Ralph make on the island, and they use it to summon the boys together after they are separated by the crash. As a result, the conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order. “I’ll give him the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he is speaking.”(p.33) It is used to govern the boys' meetings: the boy who holds the shell is given the right to speak, making the shell more than a symbol; it is an actual vessel of political legitimacy and democratic power. As the island civilization erodes

The signal fire burns on the mountain, and later on the beach, to attract the notice of passing ships that might be able to rescue the boys. As a result, the signal fire becomes a symbol for the boys' connection to civilization. “ The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t want to keep the fire going? Is a fire too much for us to make?” (p.80) As long as the fire is well maintained, the boys exhibit a desire to return to society, but when the fire burns low or goes out, the boys lose sight of their desire to be rescued, having accepted their savage lives on the island. The signal fire thus functions as a kind of measuring stick by which the strength of the civilized instinct on the island can be judged. Ironically, at the end of the novel, it is a fire that finally summons a ship to the island, but not the signal fire: it is the fire of savagery—the forest fire Jack starts as part of his quest to hunt and kill Ralph.

As the novel evolves, the symbols loose their previous meaning. The boys on the island progress from well-behaved, orderly children who hope to be rescued to cruel, bloodthirsty hunters who have no desire to return to civilization, they naturally lose the sense of innocence that they possessed at the beginning of the novel. The painted savages in Chapter 12 who have hunted, tortured, and killed animals and human beings are a far cry from the simple children swimming in the lagoon in Chapter 3. At first Golding shows that the conch and the fire are powerful symbols of order and the desire to return home, to return to civilization. Then when the boys start to let the fire out, and break the conch shell, those symbols loose their power. Then later on in the novel, the powerful symbols become the beast, and the lord of the flies. When th