*Entry of your choice - symbolisms
There were a lot of symbols in this novel, Lord of the Flies. Without any exaggerations, the content was full of symbolic materials and ideas.
First, the conch, which Piggy found and suggested Ralph to blow and summon boys, symbolized the democratic idea and a rule. Since the conch was used as a right to speak during the assembly, it gave everyone a chance to speak equally and a chance to be treated equally. During the meeting, only a person who held the conch shell could speak and everyone had to listen to him. This gave them a sense of order in their society. When the conch was crushed by the boulder that Roger rolled, the democracy and the rule were destroyed that Jack's group, which represented anarchy to flourish.
In addition, Piggy's glasses were also an important symbol. His glasses represented the scientific side of a society. With his glasses, the boys were able to light the fire. This gave the boys a sense of hope to get saved. When the Jack's group tried to steal his glasses but could not, the glasses were cracked, which also cracked the intelligence of boys. When the Jack's group finally stole it from Piggy, they abused the science and intelligence.
More importantly, the fire had two symbols; one was hope while the other one was destruction. At first when Piggy used his glasses and sunlight to make the signal fire, it gave them hope as mentioned before. They set the fire in hope of being rescued and going back to their own society. However, as time went on and as they paid a little attention to the signal fire, the original goal of the signal fire disappeared. Soon, the meaning of the fire turned to the opposite, destruction. Jack set the forest fire to capture Ralph and kill him. This use of fire was really unexpected for me. When I began reading this novel, I thought they would use the fire effectively for the survival, which was very opposite to their reality.
댓글 2개:
Nice insight! I agree with you one hundred percent with what you ahve mentioned about Golding effectively using symbolsl such as these, and your interpretations of them as well.
I also chose to write about symbols used in this novel and came up with basically the same thing as you did.
But what I failed to notice was a second meaning of the fire. You provided an amazing explanation of why the fire can be contradicting itself by representing two opposites: hope and destruction. I fell that you've opened my eyes to more of what could have been flashing through the boys' minds. "Yay! A fire! Hope!" "No ships coming. Hope fading..." "Only purpose of fire now is destruction..." Very thoughtful. Well done!
I feel lucky to read your comment.
You even made me understand the deeper meaning of symbols in the novel. Golding surely had placed many important symbols through out the whole book.
Your interpretations are amazing!
I've never thought that these symbols(especially the conch) had this deep meaning to the boys in the story.
You did a nice job. Good and deep interpretation.
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