Symbols Flashcards
(30 cards)
And another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once. We’ll have to have ‘Hands up’ like at school.” . . . “Then I’ll give him the conch. . . . I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.”
At the first meeting, Ralph creates rules that mimic the civilized world that the boys recently left. The conch is used not only to call meetings but also to establish order when the boys talk. Thus, the conch symbolizes civilization, adult rules, and the democratic process. As Ralph is the first to utilize the conch as a social tool, it also becomes a symbol of Ralph’s legitimacy as a leader.
Ralph took the conch from where it lay on the polished seat and held it to his lips; but then he hesitated and did not blow. He held the shell up instead and showed it to them and they understood.
When Ralph goes to call the boys for a meeting about the beast, he realizes that he doesn’t even need to blow the conch to summon everyone. The conch has become such a powerful symbol of law and order that it is enough for Ralph to simply hold the conch up. Although there are leadership tensions between Ralph and Jack, at this point in the novel, the links to civilization continue through the conch’s symbolic power and the rules it represents.
“Conch! Conch!” shouted Jack. “We don’t need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things. What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or Walter? It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us.”
During a meeting at which Sam and Eric talk about their encounter with the beast, Jack becomes agitated and interrupts Piggy to make clear how fed up he is with using and respecting the conch. In this moment, Jack rejects the rules of the meeting and Ralph’s legitimacy as leader. Jack shows signs of becoming a tyrannical leader in his claim that some voices and people matter more than others. In the face of these more savage tendencies, the conch is losing its power as a symbol of civilization and the democratic process.
He laid the conch with great care in the grass at his feet. The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye. “I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you.”
At this meeting, the first called into session by Jack rather than Ralph, Jack challenges Ralph’s leadership. Since the boys won’t agree to make him chief, Jack decides to leave the group to go off on his own. When Jack puts down the conch, it is symbolic of his rejecting the rules of civilization and democracy. He is also rejecting the legitimacy of Ralph’s leadership, which the conch represents. The conch is losing its power to keep the boys unified and connected to civilization and rules.
The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.
In this scene, Roger, standing above Piggy and Ralph, deliberately lets go of a large rock with the intention to injure or kill one of the two boys. Piggy is hit by the rock and falls to the rocks below and dies. In this moment, the conch that Piggy was holding is shattered. The destruction of the conch, the object used to call meetings and keep order, symbolizes the end of civilized rules and democracy. This loss of order is also demonstrated by Piggy’s murder.
Piggy put on his glasses. “Nobody knows where we are,” said Piggy. He was paler than before and breathless. “Perhaps they knew where we was going to; and perhaps not. But they don’t know where we are ’cos we never got there.”
At the first meeting, Piggy explains the situation to the other boys. The act of putting on his glasses before he speaks symbolizes Piggy using his intellect to think logically about the boys’ situation, or his attempt to “see” and explain their reality clearly. The glasses establish who Piggy is as a thinker and what he offers to the group. On a higher level, Piggy’s glasses symbolize scientific reasoning and civilization.
“His specs—use them as burning glasses!”
Here, Jack realizes that Piggy’s glasses can be used to start the first signal fire, and he takes them from Piggy without permission. The glasses here symbolize the science of combustion as well as the intellect needed to utilize such science and the power of fire—a link between the lost boys and the civilized world. The way Jack grabs Piggy’s glasses without permission foreshadows Jack later stealing Piggy’s glasses so his savage tribe can light fires for feasts.
Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks. Piggy cried out in terror:
Ralph and Piggy have just blamed Jack for letting the signal fire go out, eliminating any chance of their being seen by the passing ship. Here, Jack, feeling frustrated by his power struggle with Ralph, takes it out on Piggy, breaking one of the lenses of Piggy’s glasses. This assault symbolizes savagery and lawlessness attacking order, intellect, and civilization. The partially broken lenses symbolize the diminishment of intellectual thought on the island as things begin to fall apart.
Piggy took off his damaged glasses and cleaned the remaining lens.
When the bigger boys decide they will go to find out about the beast, who is, in fact, the dead pilot, Piggy expresses concern about being left behind unprotected with the “littluns.” Here, Piggy’s glasses encapsulate the boys’ situation: The one broken lens symbolizes the fact that rational thought is losing its power in the face of the boys’ fears, yet the one undamaged lens—which Piggy dutifully cleans—symbolizes the fact that some of the boys, Piggy included, are doing their best to remain rational and civilized. Overall, Piggy’s damaged glasses represent the increasing helplessness of Ralph’s group and the boys’ weakened ties to civilization as Jack and his hunters gain strength.
The chief led them, trotting steadily, exulting in his achievement. He was a chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear. From his left hand dangled Piggy’s broken glasses.
Jack and his tribe celebrate the fact that he has stolen Piggy’s glasses. This act represents the fact that Ralph’s diminished group has lost the power to start fires and get rescued, which symbolizes the fact that their link to civilization is totally lost. Like Piggy without sight, Ralph’s group is now powerless and has lost their way. Meanwhile, Jack’s tribe has gained more strength now that they have the power of Piggy’s glasses. The entire situation symbolizes savagery winning.
“There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.”
In the first meeting with all the boys that Ralph organizes, he takes on the role of leader and makes sensible suggestions, such as this one about a signal fire, about how they can get rescued. The signal fire here represents the boys’ communication with the outside world, the world of grown-ups and rules, the world that can save them from themselves. However, while the signal fire symbolizes a connection to civilization at the beginning of the story, toward the end, its meaning changes, and the fire that could once save the boys turns into a destructive and deadly force.
The separate noises of the fire merged into a drumroll that seemed to shake the mountain.
The first time the signal fire is lit, it rages out of control. Readers note that one of the “littluns,” the boy with a mulberry mark on his face, most likely dies in this fire as he’s never seen again. At first, the signal fire symbolizes rescue. But as it grows out of control, it symbolizes danger and death, foreshadowing how it will later become associated with destruction and savagery. Ironically, the fire used for destructive purposes toward the end of the story turns out to be the reason why the boys are saved after all, indicating fire’s ability to both save and end lives.
The wood was not so dry as the fuel they had used on the mountain. Much of it was damply rotten and full of insects that scurried; logs had to be lifted from the soil with care or they crumbled into sodden powder.
After the hunters stop tending the signal fire on the mountain, where it could best be seen by a passing ship, Piggy suggests moving it to the lagoon. In this location, however, the signal fire is harder to start, and the smoke is harder to see, two details that reduce the chance of rescue. The diminished signal fire is symbolic of a weakened connection to civilization as the savagery on the island grows.
“How can we make a fire?”
After Jack’s group separates from Ralph’s group, Roger asks Jack how they will start a fire to roast the pig they have hunted and killed. Jack’s suggestion of raiding Ralph’s camp and taking some of the signal fire reveals that the purpose of the fire is changing from a rescue signal to cooking meat for feasting. The fire no longer symbolizes a communal effort to return to civilization. Rather, fire is now something that can be stolen and used by Jack’s savage tribe.
Suddenly he blundered into the open, found himself again in that open space—and there was the fathom-wide grin of the skull, no longer ridiculing a deep blue patch of sky but jeering up into a blanket of smoke. Then Ralph was running beneath trees, with the grumble of the forest explained. They had smoked him out and set the island on fire.
Ralph had been hiding from Jack’s tribe, so some of Jack’s boys lit a fire to force Ralph out into the open so they could find him and kill him. The signal fire that was lit for the purpose of rescue is now being used for savagery and murder, and it is this murderous fire that symbolically rages out of control. This shows how far the boys have strayed from civilized behavior and how much evil has taken over the island.
“He wants to know what you’re going to do about the snake-thing.”
Ralph asks a young boy to explain about the snake-like thing he claims to have seen, and it is during this conversation that the term “the beast” is born. The beast introduces fear into this island paradise. The young boys have nightmares about this beast that appears to them like a snake, which is symbolic of the serpent in the Garden of Eden that tempted Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. At first, the beast seems like it is something outside of the boys, something that they could do something about. However, in time, the beast symbolizes the dark side of human nature, something that no physical wall or weapon can defeat.
“Well then—I’ve been all over this island. By myself. If there were a beast I’d have seen it. Be frightened because you’re like that—but there is no beast in the forest.”
While the boys talk about fear and debate whether the beast is real, Jack declares that the beast doesn’t exist because he has explored the island and has never seen it. Ironically, it is the primal instinct of hunting, of moving through the forest in search of food, that will bring out the beast inside Jack. When he says the beast is not in the forest, he is right because the only beast on the island is the capacity for evil inside the boys themselves.
“What I mean is . . . maybe it’s only us.”
While in a meeting to discuss the beast, Simon attempts to explain his thoughts on the subject. He understands that the beast could be real, but not in the way the other boys think. Simon recognizes that the beast is a symbol of the dark side of human nature, but he doesn’t know how to express such an idea, at least in a way that will help the others comprehend. The other boys, who are only just beginning to understand the capacity for evil inside themselves, still think the beast is something they can hunt and kill.
As Simon thought this, he turned to the poor broken thing that sat stinking by his side. The beast was harmless and horrible; and the news must reach the others as soon as possible.
Here, Simon discovers that the beast that the boys thought they found is, in fact, a dead human pilot. Simon wants to reassure the boys that the beast is not real. However, the dead pilot, who symbolizes war and humans’ capacity to kill each other, points to a different kind of beast, the evil that exists inside all humans. The fact that Simon is never able to deliver this news because the boys murder him underscores the fact that the beast dwells inside the characters.
“Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!” The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed. The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face.
Jack’s tribe, Ralph, and Piggy dance and chant in a frenzy after they feast on roast pig. However, what began as a hunting call to find and kill a pig has now become a chant to hunt and kill the beast. This shift gives the boys permission to become even more violent. In this scene, they allow themselves to confuse Simon for the beast, and they kill him. Simon is martyred for attempting to bring them the truth about what they believed to be the beast—the pilot—and his murder symbolizes that the true beast is, in fact, the evil inside humans.
“This head is for the beast. It’s a gift.”
After killing the pig, the boys leave its bloodied head, which they stuck on a sharpened stick, as an offering to the beast, a creature they think is out in the forest somewhere, something they can appease with an offering. However, the savagery with which the boys killed the mother pig shows that the beast, or evil, is inside each of them. The pig’s head becomes a symbol of the evil inside humans.
They were black and iridescent green and without number; and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned. At last Simon gave up and looked back; saw the white teeth and dim eyes, the blood—and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition.
Simon looks at the swarm of flies surrounding the pig’s head that the hunters have stuck on a stick. The pig’s head is located in a clearing to which Simon likes to retreat. This is the first time the pig’s head is referred to as the Lord of the Flies, which is a reference to Beelzebub, or the Devil. According to legend, Beelzebub could fly and so was sometimes called “Lord of the Flyers” or “Lord of the Flies.” Here, the pig’s head has become a physical symbol of human evil that has been unleashed on the island.
“What are you doing out here all alone? Aren’t you afraid of me? . . . There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast.”
During an epileptic fit, Simon imagines that the pig’s head on the stick is talking to him. Here, Golding makes clear that the pig’s head, which is also referred to as Lord of the Flies, another name for the Devil, is a symbol of the beast, which represents evil. During his hallucination, Simon understands that the beast is not something that can be killed because it exists inside humans.
“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter. “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they are?”
Here, the Lord of the Flies continues to talk to Simon, who is actually just having an epileptic fit next to the pig’s head in the clearing. While the Lord of the Flies has already made it clear that the beast is actually inside the boys and all humankind, here he further explains that it is this Beast, this evil, that is causing things to fall apart on the island. The Beast confirms what Simon already knew. Once Simon comes to his senses, he immediately sets off to find the other boys to share what he’s learned.
