An Assignment

On
The Major Themes of The Novel
Lord of The Files
By
William Golding (1911-1993)
Title: Major Themes of The Novel ‘’Lord of The Flies’’
Course Title: Introduction To Novel
Course ID: ENG-11132

Submitted To: Nazia Hussain

Senior Lecturer,
Department Of English Studies,
State University of Bangladesh

Submitted By: Miah Safayet Md. Asif

ID: UG07-36-16-014
Batch: 36
Department Of English Studies

Date of Submission: 20th April 2017

Biography Of The Author….

William Golding (1911-1993)

 Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993)
was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his novel Lord of the Flies, he won a
Nobel Prize in Literature, and was also awarded the Booker Prize for literature in 1980 for his
novel Rites of Passage, the first book in what became his sea trilogy, To the Ends of the Earth.

Golding was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1988. He was a fellow of the Royal
Society of Literature. In 2008, The Times ranked Golding third on their list of "The 50
greatest British writers since 1945".

In 1954 after twenty one rejections Golding’s first and most acclaimed novel “Lord of
the Flies” was published. He was also awarded Nobel Prize for his greatest work in
1983.

In 1985, Golding and his wife moved to Tullimaar House at Perranarworthal, near Truro,
Cornwall. He died of heart failure eight years later, on 19 June 1993. He was buried in the
village churchyard at Bowerchalke, South Wiltshire (near the Hampshire and Dorset
county boundaries). He left the draft of a novel, The Double Tongue, set in ancient Delphi,
which was published posthumously. His son David continues to live at Tullimaar House.

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Symbolism In The Novel “Lord of The Flies”

● The Conch Shell → It represents order, authority, stability, assembly &
civilization.
Ralph and Piggy discover the conch shell on the beach at the start of the novel and use it to
summon the boys together after the plane crash separates them on a deserted island. Used
in this capacity, the conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order in
the novel. The shell effectively governs the boys meetings, for the boy who holds the shell
holds the right to speak. In this regard, the shell is more than a symbol-it is am actual
vessel of political legitimacy and democratic power.
● Piggy’s Glasses → It symbolizes rationality, innovation and intellectual
endeavour. This symbolic significance is clear from the start of the novel, when the boys
use the lenses from Piggy’s glasses to focus the sunlight and start a fire.
● The Signal Fire → It symbolizes progress, hope, rescue and civilization. The
Signal Fire burns on the mountain and later on the beach, to attract the notice of any
passing ships that might be able to rescue the boys. As a result in the novel The Signal Fire
becomes a barometer of the boys connection to civilization.
●Pig’s Head → It symbolizes Evil, Fear, Beelzebub.
●The Beast → It symbolizes Fear, Evil and doubt. The imaginary beast that frightens
all the boys stands for the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings.
The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon reaches the realization that they fear the
beast because it exists within each of them.
● Lord of the Flies → Lord of the Flies is the bloody, severed sow’s head that Jack
impales on a stake in the forest glade as an offering to the beast. This complicated symbol
becomes the most important image in the novel when Simon confronts the sow’s head in
the glade and it seems to speak to him, telling him that evil lies within every human heart.
In this way Lord of the Flies becomes both a physical manifestation of the beast, a symbol
of the power of evil and a kind of Satan figure who evokes the beast within each human
being. Looking at the novel in the context of biblical parallels, Lord of the Flies recalls the
devil, just as Simon recalls Jesus in the Novel. In fact, the name “Lord of the Flies” is a
literal translation of the name of the biblical name Beelzebub, a powerful demon in hell.

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Major Themes in The Novel…….

Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author William Golding. The novel
premise focuses on a group of adolescent boys stranded on an uninhabited island and their
attempt to govern themselves, with disastrous results.

◙ Good vs. Evil – Lord of the Flies

However, it is widely agreed that each person is inherently born with two sides; one of
which is good, the other evil. It is this sense of inherent good and evil in all of us that
William Golding tried to warn and protect society against in his classic, “The Lord of the
Flies” Golding is trying to exaggerate the inherent good and evil in the boys on the island.
The boys are all well-raised, British prep school boys. They have grown up in a dignified
and sophisticated society, and are by no means savage before they crash on the island.
However, in a very short period of time, the boys lose the intelligence and sophistication
they had been raised with, and become wild and crazy and almost completely devoid of
any signs of civilization.

The boys come to the island controlled by their inherent good, but the longer they stay, the
more the inherent evil begins to take over. Inherent good and evil are also represented in
the book through different characters. For example, Simon seems to be the most sensitive
and civilized boy on the island. He is also the only one who recognizes that the true beast
on the island is inside the boys themselves. Simon represents the inherent good in human
beings. However, Roger is clearly bloodthirsty with little or no concern for those he hurts
when while he is trying to accomplish a task.

In fact, Roger enjoys deliberately hurting other boys on the island. Roger is representative
of the inherent evil in man-kind. Through these examples and many more, Golding clearly
warns us against the good and evil inside all of us. One may wonder, however, what
society can do in order to help prevent catastrophe. Golding shows us the answer to this
problem through certain events in his novel.

Symbolically, Golding is trying to tell society that if we work together, we can ultimately
saves society from ourselves, and the inherent evil in all of us.

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Toward the end of the story, Jack creates his own group on the island. This divides the
island in two—Jacks’ group on Castle rock, and Ralph’s group which remains on the
beach. At the time of this separation, the already lacking democracy on the island weakens
drastically, and everything falls apart. Simon is killed, Piggy’s glasses are stolen,
SamNEric are tortured and manipulated, Piggy is murdered, and Ralph’s life almost comes
to a dramatic end. These events represent the obvious truth that when the people fight
against each other, the result is extremely counter-productive, and will eventually corrupt
society. Inherent good and evil, and the qualification of each, is a topic that has been
debated for centuries, and is sure to be debated in the future. We may never all agree on
one true definition for good and evil. We may never even agree on whether good and evil
both truly exist.

◙ Biblical Elements

Many critics have characterized Lord of the Flies as a retelling of episodes from the Bible.
The novel does echo certain Christian images and themes. Golding does not make any
explicit or direct connections to Christian symbolism in Lord of the Flies; instead, these
biblical parallels function as a kind of subtle motif in the novel, adding thematic resonance
to the main ideas of the story. The island itself, particularly Simon’s glade in the forest,
recalls the Garden of Eden in its status as an originally pristine place that is corrupted by
the introduction of evil. Similarly, we may see the Lord of the Flies as a representation of
the devil, for it works to promote evil among humankind. Furthermore, many critics have
drawn strong parallels between Simon and Jesus. Among the boys, Simon is the one who
arrives at the moral truth of the novel, and the other boys kill him sacrificially as a
consequence of having discovered this truth. Simon’s conversation with the Lord of the
Flies also parallels the confrontation between Jesus and the devil during Jesus’ forty days
in the wilderness, as told in the Christian Gospels. The novel’s biblical parallels enhance
its moral themes but are not necessarily the primary key to interpreting the story.

Looking at the novel in the context of biblical parallels, the Lord of the Flies recalls the
devil, just as Simon recalls Jesus. In fact, the name “Lord of the Flies” is a literal
translation of the name of the biblical name Beelzebub, a powerful demon in hell
sometimes thought to be the devil himself.

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◙ Concept of Civilization vs. Savagery

At an allegorical level, the central theme is the conflicting human impulses toward
civilization and social organization—living by rules, peacefully and in harmony—and
toward the will to power. The central concern of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between
two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act
peacefully and follow moral commands, act violently to obtain supremacy over others, and
enforce one’s will. This conflict might be expressed in a number of ways: civilization vs.
savagery, order vs. chaos, reason vs. impulse, law vs. anarchy, or the broader heading of
good vs. evil. Throughout the novel, Golding associates the instinct of civilization with
good and the instinct of savagery with evil.

The conflict between the two instincts is the driving force of the novel, explored through
the dissolution of the young English boys’ civilized, moral, disciplined behaviour as they
accustom themselves to a wild, brutal, barbaric life in the jungle. In the novel Golding
represents the conflict between civilization and savagery in the conflict between the
novel’s two main characters: Ralph, the protagonist, who represents order and leadership;
and Jack, the antagonist, who represents savagery and the desire for power.

As the novel progresses, Golding shows how different people feel the influences of the
instincts of civilization and savagery to different degrees. Generally, however, Golding
implies that the instinct of savagery is far more primal and fundamental to the human
psyche than the instinct of civilization and people naturally revert to cruelty, savagery, and
barbarism. This idea of innate human evil is central to Lord of the Flies, and finds
expression in several important symbols, most notably the beast and the sow’s head on the
stake. Among all the characters, only Simon seems to possess anything like a natural,
innate goodness.

◙ Concept of Society
From this view of human nature Golding draws deep implications for society. He believes that
because of the fundamental potential in every person to commit evil acts there will always be
criminals and wrong doers in society no matter how well intentioned a society's ideologies.
Therefore a society without laws and law enforcement will inevitably fail.

Roger's behavior is a good illustration of this point. Early on in the story he throws rocks at the
littleuns. As he is still used to the rules and punishments of his previous society he is careful not
to hit them though. By the end of the book Roger has realized that in their new society there are
no consequences for misdeeds and so he is free to drop a huge rock onto Piggy.

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◙ Concept of Human Nature & Fear

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding presents a Freudian view of the individual,
specifically that within each person there is a struggle between right and wrong. Initially
the boys listen to their consciences and act according to the moral code they were taught
during their upbringing. They set rules, allocate jobs, and democratically elect a leader. As
time goes by, boys such as the elected leader Ralph, the rational Piggy and the kind Simon
manage to remain disciplined, but others indulge and let their morals decay little by little,
particularly the proud Jack and his group of hunters.

As the boys begin to fear a superstition they create called "the beast" it is Simon who
realises that what they should really fear is the beast within themselves. "Fancy thinking
the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?
Close, close, close!" (The Pig's Head talking to Simon). The culmination of the boys' fall
from grace comes when Piggy is murdered by Roger deliberately and in cold blood. As
Piggy is killed, the conch - a symbol of authority and order - is also destroyed symbolising
the complete rejection of the moral code.

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◙ Political Allegory - Lord of the Flies

The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, was first published in 1954. This fabulous story is about
a group of English schoolboys who get stranded on an island after a plane accident. Some say that
this story is considered a political allegory because it shows different types of governments and in
many ways represents our society. These boys have different views on decision-making and
ethical decisions which cause dramatic changes in the way everyone fights for survival.

Lord of the Flies is an allegory on human society today, the novel's primary implication being that
what we have come to call civilization is, at best, no more than skin-deep" (Stern, 169). Though
the need for civilization is focused on in this novel, the significance of political order, shown
allegorically, is consistently referenced to. In Lord of the Flies, the persons, or characters
allegorized include Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Roger, the biguns, and the littluns; each considered an
important component of their political establishments. For most every society, there is a system
of government usually comprised of a certain conduct or manner. In Lord of the Flies, two
political parties were established, causing conflict among the children. Ralph and Jack served as
leaders for separate parties. "Ralph is democratic man, the symbol of consent. "There was a
mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil" (Spitz, 191). Ralph's rational
disposition became evident after dividing authority with Jack. "Ralph looked at him [Jack], eager
to offer something. "The choir belongs to you, of course" (Golding, 23). Ralph could be
considered a reasonable and responsible leader; therefore, portraying a democratic setting. "Jack
then, is authoritarian man. Like Hitler and Mussolini; himself a Satanic figure with his red hair and
black cape.

William Golding's Lord of the Flies allegorically shows the good and evil that co-exists in every
human being.  Each character and symbol renders this possible by what it represents.  Ralph and
Jack allegorically represent opposing political forces: Jack as the dictator or fascist and Ralph as
the prototype of a democratic leader.  The island represents the archetypal garden and the conch
shell represents power.  Golding uses British schoolboys to show progressive degeneration and to
prove that a little bit of evil exists in all of us.  Each of these symbols aid in proving that we all
have some evil in our hearts...  

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