A STUDY OF SYMBOLS IN GOLDING’S LORD OF THE FLIES
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A STUDY OF SYMBOLS IN GOLDING’S LORD OF THE FLIES AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements to Obtain Sarjana Sastra Degree in English Letters By Wisnu Nurcahyo Student Number: 994214115 ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2007 i
Transcript of A STUDY OF SYMBOLS IN GOLDING’S LORD OF THE FLIES
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A STUDY OF SYMBOLS IN
GOLDING’S LORD OF THE FLIES
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements
to Obtain Sarjana Sastra Degree
in English Letters
By
Wisnu Nurcahyo
Student Number: 994214115
ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2007
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A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
A STUDY OF SYMBOLS IN
GOLDING’S LORD OF THE FLIES
By
WISNU NURCAHYO
Student number: 994214115
Approved by
Tatang Iskarna S.S., M. Hum 12 June 2007
Advisor
Adventina Putranti, S.S 12 June 2007
Co-Advisor
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A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
A STUDY OF SYMBOLS AS SEEN IN
GOLDING’S LORD OF THE FLIES
By
WISNU NURCAHYO
Student number : 994214115
Defended before the Board of Examiners
on June 29, 2007
and Declared Acceptable
BOARD OF EXAMINERS
Name Signature
Chairman: Dr. Fr. Alip, M. Pd., M. -------------------------------
Secretary: Drs.Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. -------------------------------
Member: P. Sarwoto, S, S M.A -------------------------------
Member: Tatang Iskarna S.S., M. Hum. -------------------------------
Member: Adventina Putranti, S.S.,M.Hum -------------------------------
Yogyakarta, June 29, 2007
Faculty of Letters
Sanata Dharma University
Dean
Dr. Fr. Alip, M. Pd., M.
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Dedicated To:
My Beloved Father and Mother
& Big Family
My Brother and Family
My Beloved Brother
All of My Friends
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank Allah SWT’s love and blessings are the
greatest guidance in finishing this thesis. After and until this time I could pass all
the troubles.
My gratitude goes to my advisor, Tatang Iskarna S.S., M. Hum and my
co-advisor, Adventina Putranti, S.S who have read, re-read, criticized, and
corrected my undergraduate thesis. I truly appreciate their help, support, time,
valuable suggestions and opinions during my undergraduate thesis writing. Their
sincere guidance has encouraged me to make my thesis better and better up to the
end.
I also would like to give my deepest gratitude to my beloved parents.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank them for their love, patience, understanding
and all of the financial support throughout the years so that this thesis is being
done. I finally can pass all of this!!! And to my beloved brother‘s family, my
nephew”Athaya Malik Abinaya” just be a good boy, OK.
My next gratitude is given to my friends in “Cantel 353”, Hendro “Ebo”
Thank you man for the support, Nickholas “Itho”, Danaz “Mletik”, Dody
“Bahjury”, Dady “Betet”, Dony “Adhon”, Awal “Awenk”, Chico, Rolieb
“Genthong” and Udin “Pelor”, I thank them for the wonderful moment we share
together. I will never forget those moments’ guys. Thanks a lot!!!
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To lovely friends in Sanata Dharma University; Genter, Ebo, Itut,
Agung, Lita, and Amel King-Kong, etc. I thank them for being such nice friends. I
really admire their sincere love to make my study full of hue and happiness.
I would like to say thank for all friends that I’ve ever met, for fulfilling
my live with sadness or happiness until this time. To Akbar”BOW” & Adhi
“Keep on Rock n Roll” guys, thanks for the happy moments that we share
together.
Wisnu Nurcahyo
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ............................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGE...................................................................................... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE................................................................................. iii
MOTTO PAGE ............................................................................................ iv
DEDICATION PAGE .................................................................................. v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................... vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................. viii
ABSTRACT................................................................................................. x
ABSTRAK ................................................................................................... xi
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ................................................................ 1
A. Background of the study.............................................................. 1
B. Problem Formulation................................................................... 5
C. Objective of the study.................................................................. 5
D. Definition of terms ...................................................................... 6
CHAPTER II THEORITICAL REVIEW................................................. 7
A. Review of Related Study ............................................................. 7
B. Review of Related Theories......................................................... 10
B.1. Theory on Symbols .............................................................. 11
C. Theoretical Framework................................................................ 15
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY ............................................................ 16
A. Object of the Study...................................................................... 16
B. Approach of the study ................................................................. 18
C. Method of the Study .................................................................... 19
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS......................................................................... 22
A. The Symbols found in the Story................................................... 23
A.1. The Conch Shell ................................................................ 23
A.2. The Glasses........................................................................ 25
A.3. The Signal Fire .................................................................. 26
A.4. The Mask or the Face Paint................................................ 27
A.5. The Shelters ....................................................................... 28
A.6. The Rocks ......................................................................... 29
A.7. The Knife........................................................................... 29
A.8. The Beast........................................................................... 30
A.9. The Lord of the Flies.......................................................... 31
A.10. The Island .......................................................................... 33
B. The Symbols meaning ................................................................. 33
B.1. The Conch Shell................................................................. 35
B.2. The Glasses........................................................................ 38
B.3. The Signal Fire................................................................... 39
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B.4. The Mask or the Face Paint ................................................ 41
B.5. The Shelters ....................................................................... 43
B.6. The Rocks.......................................................................... 44
B.7. The Knife........................................................................... 44
B.8. The Beast ........................................................................... 45
B.9. The Lord of the Flies.......................................................... 48
B.10. The Island .......................................................................... 49
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION.................................................................... 51
BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................... 55
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ABSTRACT
WISNU NURCAHYO. Willliam Golding’s The Lord of the Flies: A
STUDY OF SYMBOLS IN GOLDING’S LORD OF THE FLIES
Yogyakarta: Departement of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata
Dharma University, 2007.
This thesis is talking about a study of Symbols in William Golding’s The
Lord of the Flies. The object of the analysis is a famous novel which dealing with
a lot of symbols since the author Golding makes use of symbolism to represent his
idea. In this novel, symbols takes great part to the whole story. Symbols which are
found on the novel most of them are desribed the world at that time, which is in a
war. And war was a great misfortune which brings disaster and misery to people’s
life. On the analysis, there were so many symbols found and this analysis wants to
study more of those symbols, so that they will helps to understand the writer’s
idea. The novel’s setting is in the end of the Second World War of English
society. The main characters of this novel most of them are children age between
six to twelve years old.
There are two questions that emerge as the problem of this thesis. The
two questions are: 1) what are the symbols found in the novel 2) what do the
symbols signify.
This thesis uses the library research as the method of the study. Theories
of symbol are used to do the analysis. The theories of symbol by Rohgberger,
Holman, Myers and Simms are also used since this thesis is going to discuss the
symbols deeper. The method of the gathering data used in this thesis is library
research. The writer uses a novel from William Golding Lord of the Flies and
several books to collect information about literature and its element. In order to
analyze the two problems, the writer uses an exponential approach, since this
approach pays more attention to the symbols and images in the literary work.
The symbols found in the story are: The Conch Shell, Island, Glasses,
Signal Fire, The Mask or The Face Paint, Beast, Lord of The Flies, Shelters,
Rock, and Knife. Those symbols can be concluded as the important symbols in
the story because of their appearance capacity in the story, yet those symbols are
connected one and another so they are form a great and interesting story to the
reader.
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ABSTRAK
WISNU NURCAHYO. Willliam Golding’s The Lord of the Flies: A STUDY
OF SYMBOLS IN GOLDING’S LORD OF THE FLIES Yogyakarta:
Departement of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University,
2007.
Skripsi ini membahas tentang analisis simbol-simbol dari
novel William Golding yang berjudul The Lord of the Flies. Objek dari analisi ini
adalah novel terkenal , yang berhubungan dengan simbol-simbol yang mana
pengarangnya, Golding, menggunakan simbol-simbol tersebut untuk
merepresentasikan idea-idenya. Dalam novel ini, simbol-simbol sangat
mendominasi pada keseluruhan cerita. Simbol-simbol yang ditemukan dalam
novel ini sebagian besar menbggambarkan keadaan dunia pada waktu itu, dalam
keadaan atau masa perang. Dan hanya mendatangkan bencana dan kesedihan bagi
masyarakat. Dalam analisi ditemukan begitu banyak simbol yang dapat dan sangat
membantu untuk memahami lebih dalam isi atau makna novel ini. Novel ini
berlatarbelakang pada pasca berakhirnya Perang Dunia II pada masyarakat
Inggris. Sebagian besar karakter utama dalam novel ini adalah anak –anak usia 6
sampai 12 tahun.
Ada dua pertanyaan yang muncul sebagai masalah dalam skripsi ini,
yaitu:1) simbol –simbol apa saja yang ada dari novel ini 2) simbol-simbol tersebut
mengacu pada hal apa.
Skripsi ini menggunakan studi pustaka sebagai metode dari
penelitiannya. Teori-teori simbol digunakan dalam melakukan analisis. Teori
simbol oleh Rohgberger, Holman, Myers and Simms digunakan dalam skripsi ini
karena skripsi ini akan membahas simbol-simbol secara lebih mendalam. Studi
pustaka adalah metode yang digunakan dalam skripsi ini. Penulis menggunakan
novel dari William Golding Lord of the Flies dan beberapa buku lainnya untuk
menggumpulkan informasi-informasi tentang sastra dan elemen-elemen yang ada
di dalamnya. Untuk menganalisis kedua permasalahan diatas, penulis
menggunakan pendekatan eksponential, dikarenakan pendekatan ini lebih
mengacu pada simbol-simbol dan images dalam suatu karya sastra.
Simbol-simbol yang ditemukan dalam novel ini antara lain The Conch
Shell, The Island, The Glasses, The Signal Fire, The Mask or The Face Paint,
Beast, The Lord of The Flies, The Shelters, The Rock, and The Knife. Simbol-
simbol tersebut dapat digolongkan sebagai symbol-simbol yang penting dalam
novel ini karena kapasitasnya yang sering muncul dan symbol-simbol tersebut
saling berhubungan satu dengan yang lainnya.Sehingga symbol-simbol itu
membentuk suatu alur cerita yang menarik bagi pembacanya.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literary works are men’s creation in the form of writings that are valued
as works of art such as essay, short story, novel, drama and poetry. Fictions are
included as literary work because fictions are purely the reflection of human
beings life that is influenced by their imagination. Literary works are in contrast
with technical works, newspapers, and magazines because they represent human
being’s life and are influenced by the author’s ideology, morality, social
background, education and religion. Literary works also offer something that
makes them different from technical books. In technical books they just offer
something that is real and certain but literary works offer more than that, that is
also useful for human’s life (Wellek and Warren, 1962:58)
Literature is one of the great creative and comprehensive ways of
communicating the emotional, spiritual, or the intellectual apprehension of
mankind. It can help the readers to develop their intelligence and also their
personality by read and understand the literature itself.. Literature also provides an
objective base on the reader’s knowledge and understanding.
The best way to understand and analyze literature is to begin by
involving ourselves deeply in the work and experiencing it on its own terms. That
is, when we read, we should let ourselves get caught up on the story, the language,
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and the emotion. Then we will find it easier to go back for a second or third
reading in which we concentrate more on identifying the major ideas.
We can analyze literature by discussing about the theme, plot, character,
or other elements of literary work. Symbol is one of the important elements on
literary. By learning and understand its meaning in contributing the story, we can
get the authors purpose. In analyzing Golding’s Lord of the Flies, we can see a lot
of symbols that can be found.
This thesis will discuss one important element in a novel. That is
symbol. Symbol is a term, name, or even a picture that may be familiar to daily
life, yet it implies something rogue, unknown, or hidden from us.
In A Glossary of Literary Terms states that symbol is anything, which
signifies something else; in this sense, all words are symbols. In discussing
literature, the term symbol is applied only to a word or phrase that signifies an
object or an event that in turn signifies something, or has a range of reference
(Abrams, 1971:195).
Further more this thesis will explain how the symbols can be used in
determining the significance of possible meaning both in the story and real life.
This topic is chosen because the symbols came and there is a very close
relationship between one and another. This supported by Stanton’s theory that
symbol have three usual effects, depending upon how it is used. First, a symbol
that appears during an important moment of the story underlines the significance
of that moment. Second, a symbol repeated several time remind us of some
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constant element in the story. And the third, a symbol in the story helps us to
define or clarify the purpose of the story (1965:32).
The reason why the writer chooses this novel is because the writer thinks
that this novel has a strong indication of symbols. And these symbols are some
kind of guide line to understand the whole elements in the story. And also as these
symbols came through or happened on the characters whom are all children and
during their long-lived on the deserted island, they can commit many actions that
considered beyond the thinking of a child at their age. Moreover, the reason why
the author chooses children instead of adolescents, or even adult, most likely
because children have not been fully conditioned by society to understand right
from wrong, and thus in ignorance. Most of them are guided by their instincts and
what is inherent within them. Furthermore, in this analysis Golding makes use of
symbolism which is made such a great impact to this novel. Therefore, Golding
make deliberant use of symbolism, he chooses his symbols within care that will
help the reader to understand his idea.
William Golding was born on September 19, 1911, in Cornwall,
England. Although he tried to write a novel, he parents urged him to study the
Natural Sciences. Golding followed his parent whishes, until the second year at
Oxford, when he changed his focus to English Literature. After graduating from
the Oxford, he works as a director, wrote poetry, and then become a school
teacher. In 1940 He joined The Royal Navy, where he served in command a
rocket launcher and participated in the invasion of Normandy. After the war,
Golding resumed teaching and started to write novels. Lord of the Flies was his
4
first and greatest success novel which became a best seller in both Britain and
United States. Golding was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1983 and
then he died in 1993.
The writer is interested in Golding’s work, The Lord of the Flies,
because the story is simple but meaningful for the reader. It is simple because the
story can be enjoyed by all kinds of people with less difficulty, and it is also
meaningful because in this simplicity the reader can find much moral values and
lessons of life.
Golding as the author describes how inherited can suddenly occurs to
every human being. He shows that savagery can be occurred even to a child. This
novel shows that Golding’s ability in writing skill, especially on boys’ fiction
novel and his way in combining the setting, the symbols and the characters which
create such a great story like this novel. Here the writer chooses this novel to be
discussed due to interest in observing the symbols. Therefore the study will be
concerned with the symbols.
Lord of the Flies tells the story of a group of English schoolboys; they
are about 6 up to 12 years old. They are in a plane when their plane shot down and
crashes on a deserted island on the Pacific Ocean during World War II. There are
no adults to be in charge. The starting point in this story is when two of the boys,
Ralph and Piggy, discover a conch shell on the beach, and Piggy realizes it could
be used as a horn to summon the other boys. Once assembled, the boys set about
electing a leader and devising a way to be rescued. They choose Ralph as their
leader, and Ralph appoints another boy, Jack, to be in charge of the boys who will
5
hunt food for the entire group. Ralph as the chosen leader makes the rules that any
one who wants to talk has to hold the conch, a shell like object that projects a
monotonous tone when it is blown. But all things that Ralph made was ruined by
Jack and their members, after Jack intimidate the other child by introducing the
beast and when he decided to built a new tribe which elects him as the leader of
that tribe. Soon after, a major confrontation between Jack and Ralph occurs on the
beach. Ralph is accused of cowardice by Jack and Jack moves to remove Ralph
from leader of the group of boys. He is humiliated though, as none of the boys
voted for his takeover. So this becomes a battle of Jack’s tribe with Ralph’s tribe.
But at the end of the story, Ralph wins this battle even though he must lose all of
his friends.
B. Problem Formulation
1. What are the symbols found in the story?
2. What do the symbols signify in the story?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objective of the study is focused on influential things to get better
understanding of the symbol. The objectives here are the aims of this paper
concerned with the questions in problem formulation. In brief this thesis aims:
1. Give explanation about what are the symbols found in the story.
2. Give explanation about what is the significance of the symbols that
found in the story.
6
D. Definition of Terms
In order to give the readers a clearer understanding of the title and the
analysis, the writer here will give the meaning of the complicated words:
The first terms is “Symbol”, which according Stanton symbol is a single
object, a physical type of object, a physical substance, a shape, a gesture, color, a
sound, so forth. They may represent a human personality, futile ambition, the
romanticism of youth and so on (1965:31).
7
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
The first criticism that deals with Golding’s Lord of the Flies is stated by
Velissaries Valsamas:
Lord of the Flies, is a great novel in which W. Golding explaining the
real nature of human being, which i9s not as innocent as we think. The
young boys, before they have received the complete procedure of social
formation, when they have to live in a world where they make the rules,
they become savages and merciless like the animals. These ideas of W.
Golding, game a complete explanation to the atrocities of war. War is a
“game” which human knows from the beginning of his life.
(http://www.goecities.com/athens/forum/6429/reviews.htm)
A good novel arouses responses from other writers. Comments or
criticisms might be discussing the intrinsic aspects of the novel such as plot,
theme, characters and extrinsic aspects of a novel. Some criticisms which are
found by searching the internet will be used in this analysis.
Lord of the Flies can be considered a classical novel. A classic in the
respect that the author creates special circumstances under which abnormal
actions and functions mutate into everyday activity (www.sjsu.edu/depts/golding)
All of these concepts and ideals are generated by Golding to finally produce a
novel of both perplexity and perfection.
The problems or the conflicts presented in a novel may interest the
critics to give their opinions toward the novel. It could make the writer get
stimulated to create a better book in the future.
The writer finds some criticism and comments of Golding’s Lord of the Flies.
8
Many critics say that Golding’s Lord of the Flies is affected by R.M
Ballantyne’s The Coral Island, a classic adventure story of young boys on a
desert- island (Hudson 1969: 5). Actually, Golding himself admits, explicitly or
implicitly, that this Lord of the Flies has a kick-off in Ballantyne’s The Coral
Island. In his interview in 1980 he said:
I think it’s possible that my books sometimes have a kick-off in other
books, but only because my human experience has made me feel that, in
those circumstances, I know better. Lord of the Flies had a sort of
genesis in seeing how ridiculous a picture of human nature The Coral
Island is (Haffenden 1985: 101).
Golding uses The Coral Island as his specific source for the Lord of the
Flies. He admits that he even uses many elements of the novel, but he is not
determined by it. He, on the contrary reverses it, or in Niemeyer’s word:
“Golding…gives a corrective to Ballantyne’s optimism” (McEwen, 1981: 101).
The comment is from Owen Webster in Living with Chaos, Books and
Art who says that Golding felt he was writing other people’s books, while what he
wanted to say needed a new story (1958: 15).
Frank Kermode strengthens this comment. In his books, Interview with
Golding for BBC, on August 28, 1959, he wrote that Golding has also said that he
sees the novel as a unique pattern that should not be repeated to order:
It seems to me that there’s really very little point in writing a novel
unless you do something that either you suspected you could not do, or
which you are pretty certain nobody else has tried before. I don’t think
there’s any point in writing two books that are like each other (1959:
23).
9
Charles Monteith, the publisher stated in his article Strangers from
Within written as attribute on Golding 75
th
birthday, that on September 17, 1954
Lord of the Flies was at last published by a curious coincidence exactly a year
after it was first submitted. He said that its early reception by reviewers was
usually good, and even enthusiastic. E. M. Forster recognized the novel as the out
standing novel of the years. Eliot who got the copy of the novel said that Lord of
the Flies is not only a splendid novel but morally and theologically impeccable
(1987:63).
In his interview with a reporter from the New York Word-Telegram and
Sun printed on December 3, 1963, Golding insisted that the novel’s primary
purpose is to serve as a warning of a man’s potential for brutality to his fellow
man. It will be seen that Golding’s general statements fully express the mood and
purpose of his books.
I learn during World War II just how brutal people can be to each other.
Not just Germans and Japanese, but everyone. I tried to point that ou.
Some have said that the brutality of the novel is impossible. It’s not.
Look at any newspaper…
Leighton Hodson said that Golding’s novel is sufficiently naturalistic for his
purpose and has been described as “naturalistic-allegorical” (1969:38)
Lord of the Flies was a triumph for Golding but also a test-case. He has
survived principally through the poetic conviction of his composition.
Critical attitude and ideas arise when the book is finished; during the
reading one is eager to know what happened next, to feel what nerve will
be unerringly touched on the next rather than to assess what all those
complexities add up to. Because the moralistic intention in his work
Golding has been too easily pushed into the role of explainer when he is
only being what one expects the novelist to be describers.
10
F. E. Kearns as pointed by Hodson in Salinger and Golding; Conflict on
the Campus, has placed Lord of the Flies in tradition of the insuperable depravity
of human nature which makes all human effort at justice or order futile, hoping to
prove that Golding’s book is one of unrelieved pessimism (1969:33). On the
other hand, Hodson stated that the message does not fit easily into the categories
pessimistic or optimistic. Criticism which goes straight for the message
presupposes that the author is offering solution when he is only offering an
imaginative experience.
It is not that man is either good or evil but simply that he is capable of
becoming, and needs to become, self-aware. Golding is stating our
problems, reminding us of them or even making us re-experience them,
but it is too much to expect him to solve them (1969:34).
Hodson in his book William Golding: Writers and Critics, stated that the
character in the Lord of the Flies are not certainly divided into ‘goodies’ and
‘baddies’, though Jack and Simon do lie towards the extremes. It is the
complexity of human nature that accommodates the possibilities of both good and
evil (1969:26). As pointed by Hodson in the same book, Waltre Alen found that
the burden on the children was “too unnaturally heavy for it to be possible to draw
conclusion” (1969:28).
B. Review of Related Theories
Before analyzing the symbols, the writer would like to explain some
theories that will help the writer in analyzing problems. In this study, some
theories will be applied to support the analysis later. The first part is the theory of
11
symbols, which is meant to get the knowledge to study the definitions of the
symbols and their traits in the story.
B.1. Theory of Symbols
The word “symbol” comes from Greek which means “to throw together
or to compare” (The Longman Dictionary of Poetic Terms, 1989:297). More over
Encyclopedia of Literature defines symbol as “something used for ort regarded as
representing something else, a material objects representing something, often
something immaterial, emblem, token or sign (1995:1440).
Symbolism is explained by Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms
(1972:266) as the practice of representing objects or ideas by symbols or of giving
things a symbolic (associated) character and meaning. A symbol, then, is an
image so loaded with significance that it is not simply literal, and it does not
simply stand for something else; it both itself and something else that it richly
suggests. It is a kind of manifestation of something too complex or too elusive to
be otherwise revealed (Barnet, 1969:344). The classification of symbol as
explained by Rohrberger and Woods in Reading and writing about Literature
(1971:16-17) are divided into two different types: public and private symbols.
Public, common, or conventional symbols are generally or universally recognized.
It means that the people have agreed to accept them as standing for something
other than themselves. Just as their meanings are understood in life, so are literary
symbols. Two among many examples of public symbols are “the rose” that
12
suggests “love and female beauty” and “the cross that is connected with
Christianity”.
In private symbol or personal symbolism, the symbol’ significance is
only evident in the context of the work in which they appear. They can be
symbols only inside the work. Consequently, the meaning of symbols should be
supported by the entire context of a story. This kind of symbolism is perhaps quite
misleading because no symbol is altogether private and personal.
Symbols are not new things. Symbols are always used to convey
meanings behind the objects or words that serve as symbols. The use of symbols
in literature is not different to the use of symbol in the real world in the sense that
they stand for something beyond themselves. The most difficult part of the study
of symbol is giving the meanings to the symbols and relating one meaning to the
other logically. The difficulty may arise because the meaning itself is a complex
matter.
Perrine (1974: 214-215) propose some ways to interpret the meaning of
the symbols. First of all, when reading a story and analyzing the symbols there
must be a sufficient evidence for as thing called to be a symbol. Secondly, the
interpretation of the meaning of symbol must term from the whole context of the
story. Thirdly, in accordance with the general meaning of symbol, something that
stands for something else, the meaning must suggest something beyond the lexical
meaning. It is also important to note that a symbol may have an ambiguous
characteristic. It means that a symbol may have more than one meaning.
13
Symbolism in fiction, as Stanton’s theory, has three usual effects,
depending upon how it is used. First, a symbol that appears during an important
moment of the story underlines the significance of that moment. Second, a symbol
repeated several time remind us of some constant element in the story. And the
third, a symbol in the story helps us to define or clarify the purpose of the story
(1965:31). To recognize literary symbols and discover their meaning according
the context of the work, reader needs to know the methods of interpreting
symbols. Stanton suggests that reader has to notice the symbolic details, the
symbols’ connotation, compare it to the context and its contexts to one another.
But nevertheless, these methods need a close attention and thought of the work,
such as our previous acquaintance with the author’s work, our knowledge of the
plot and characters or what we know of the elements of the story (1965:32-33). It
is said that the usual clue for a detail to become symbolic is that it is conspicuous
for some reason other than its factual importance. For instance, it repeats or
resembles certain other details. Details may also be conspicuous because they
contrast with one another. The presence of any pattern linking details together
may become a clue to symbolism, unless the facts of the story fully account for
the pattern. Several; other ways of the author to make a detail conspicuous are
describing it more fully than its factual importance deserves, making it unusual
for apparent reason, or even mentioning it in the title.
The symbols in fiction may be anything. The range includes certain
objects, details, characters, places, actions, or even concepts. The author can use
any kind of symbols as long as he can provide them with a meaning beyond
14
themselves and give their own objective realities that signify the specific things
the author himself has intended.
We can find symbol in conversation, religious rituals, and advertising.
The problem is to recognize that certain details are the symbol but to discover to
what they means is really interesting. The author can give us a description of that
symbol more than its factual importance deserves, by making mentioning it in the
title, or by making it unusual for no apparent reason (1965:32).
There are three general form from Mayer and Simms (1989: 297-298):
1. Cultural symbol in which a natural object references a limited number
if interpretations that transcend cultural barriers, such as sun- energy,
source of life.
2. General symbol which appears to smaller evidence but which contains
more associative meaning.
3. The Private symbol or authorial, or contextual is created in author’s
imagination any convey any number in guiding context.
Another theory comes from Robert and Jacobs in Fiction on
Introduction to Reading and Writing who say that the private, authorial, or
contextual symbols are descriptions that are not universally. Recognized as
symbols, they are developed as symbols only in scope of the individual works.
These kinds of symbols achieve their meaning within context or the specific work
(1987: 280).
In literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, it is said that a literal symbol
is something that means more than what it is. It is an object, a person, a situation,
15
an action, or some other items that have a literal meaning as well (Perrine, 1974:
211). From this statement it can be concluded that to be called a symbol, an item
must suggest a meaning different in kinds from its literal meaning. A symbol is
something more than the representative of a class or type.
Abrams said in A Glossary of Literary Terms, symbol is anything, which
signifies something else; in this sense, all words are symbols. In discussing
literature, the term symbol is applied only to a word or phrase that signifies an
object or an event that in turn signifies something, or has a range of reference
(Abrams, 1971:195).
C. Theoretical Framework
In this section the writer wants to explain about the theory that is used
and also the reason why those theories are needed in this analysis. The theory is
the theory of symbol. The theory of symbol as the main theory will be used to
study what kinds of symbols occurred in William Golding in Lord of the Flies.
The theory of symbol is also used to identify and determine the symbols’ meaning
that can be derived from the novel.
16
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is a novel of William Golding entitled Lord of
the Flies. Lord of the Flies which is Golding’s first novel is regarded as the best
seller and the greatest success novel. It is Golding’s first novel which achieves
immediate success soon after its publication in 1954. The book used as the source
of this analysis is the one being published by Faber and Faber in a Paper Covered
Edition in 1962. this novel is consist of 223 pages which is divided into 12
chapters and completed with an introduction and notes to the book by Ian Gregor
and Mark Kinkead-Weekers of the Faculty of Humanity, University of Kent at
Cantetbury.
Although the process is not an easy job, Lord of the Flies has been made
into the movie. This adaptation to screen of Golding’s Lord of the Flies is the
result of a collaborative effort by several talented person, Distributor: Columbia
Pictures Starring: Balthazar Getty, Chris Furrh, Danuel Pipoly, Badgett Dale,
Edward Taft, Andrew Taft Directed by: Harry Hook, Screenplay Sara Schiff,
Cinematographer Martin Fuhrer, Production Designer Jamie Leonard James,
Aubrey –Ralph, Tom Chapin – Jack, Hugh Edward- Piggy, Roger Elwin – Roger,
Tom Gaman, Simon Sam - David Surtees, Eric - Simon Surtees. This movie
which is firstly released in February 1998 is produced by Peter Newman
17
Executive Producer Lewis Allen Producer Ross Milloy.
(http://www.gradesaver.com/classicNotes/title/lord of the flies/about)
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a story tells about a group of
British young boys. They are about 6 up to 12 years old. They are in the plane
when their plane is shot down during a war and the plane crashes on a deserted
island on the Pacific Ocean during World War II. There are no adult to in charge.
The starting point in this story is the election of Ralph as the leader of the group
of the stranded boys. He makes the rules that anyone who wants to talk has to
hold the conch, a shell-like object that projects a monotonous tone when it is
blown. By using the specs of Piggy’s glasses Ralph believes that if they keep a
fire going all the time, which first on the beach and later on the mountain, they
will be rescued. He assigns two shelters and gathers food. A spark of hatred starts
between Jack and Ralph. Jack believes that they should hunt pigs and have many
foods while Ralph believes that the most important thing is to be found and
rescued. They find that it is very frustrating to use the “conch system” as a way to
talk and soon its gets out of hand.
After Jack and his hunters make their first kill of a pig, they gather
together to re-enact the killing by chanting, “Kill the Beast! Cut his throat! Spill
his blood!” Many days later, Jack is sick and tried of Ralph and walks away to a
giant rock like fortress at the other side of the island. The next morning, Ralph,
Piggy and Samneric find themselves alone as everyone else except for some
littluns go to join with Jack. Ralph keeps the fire going in the hope of sending a
signal to a nearby ship.
18
Then, Jack’s tribe attacks Ralph’s camp and steals Piggy glasses to make
a fire. Piggy is furious and with the help of Ralph and Samneric goes to Jack’s
fortress and begs him to give his glasses back. Jack comes out with his hunters,
and starts pushing Piggy around. The fight gets out of hand and Piggy fall from
the cliff and dies. Jack tells his hunter to tie Samaeric up and bring them inside,
while Ralph runs away. Ralph becomes alone. Jack’s tribe hunts him while he
hides in some bushes. Ralph starts running faster and faster with the tribe right
behind him. Finally, he reaches the forest line and is stopped by a man in white
sailor suit.
B. The Approach
Lord of the Flies deals with many symbols, and each of those symbols
can be used as the key in understanding the novel deeper. As Golding stated that
“the whole novel is a symbolic except for the rescue at the end”.
(www.123help.com)
To analyze this novel, the writer uses the exponential approach. In this
analysis the exponential approach is probably the most appropriate to be used.
This approach is used because this approach focused on symbols and images as
the exponent of literary works are explore deeper.
According to Guerin, the exponential approach might be called as the
symbolic approach. This chapter will talk about symbols, as when it speaks of
those images that are charged with meaning beyond their usual denotations.
Sometimes these symbols are also archetypal images as it seen in the
19
mythological approach; in these sense archetypes are much the same as exponents
of experience. However, rather than multiply terms and definitions and rather than
use an awkward phrase like “motival approach”, we designate this method as the
exponential approach because the inclusiveness of that terms suggests at once the
several meanings of motif, image, symbol, and archetype.( A Handbook of
Critical Approaches to Literature,1979:79)
Furthermore, he states that one of the basic steps in the full appreciation
of a work, then, is recognition of such images and symbols. But recognition alone
is not enough. A more important step is to consider the artistic weaving into
meaningful patterns including ideational and verbal patterns of cognates,
antonyms, and associated connotations that are not necessarily dependent on
images (but may coexist with them) (1979:195-196).
C. Method of The Study
The writer used the library research or desk research as the method of
the study. It is very helpful to find some relevant theories that support the
analysis. The writer conducted library research to collect data relating to the
object and topic of the story. The major source of the study was the novel itself,
namely Lord of the Flies. In this novel, the writer found the symbols are the
important aspects to be analyzed deeper in this study. The second sources were
used to gather that support the study. They are the theory books such as A
Glossary of Literary Terms, Theory of Literature, Reading and Writing about
Literature.
20
To do the analysis, the writer needs some steps to be done in order to
answer the questions, which are stated on the problem formulation in this analysis.
The first step that the writer did for this study was reads the work of William
Golding entitled Lord of the Flies to understand the content of the story and made
the novel as the primary data to be analyzed. When the writer reads the novel, the
writer is interested in the intrinsic elements of the story; they are symbols and the
theme. The process of reading itself was repeated for several times to have a
deeper understanding about the primary data.
The second step, the writer determined the topic of the analysis and
arranged the problem formulations which later became the key concepts to do
the analysis. In this step, the writer tried to finds the elements of the literary
works, which were the elements of the novel itself.
The third, the writer just searched the secondary data according to the
research problem. It could be about the theories, which were related to this study,
also could be many criticisms, essays, book reviews or journal which was
supported this analysis or any other kinds of data which was needed and helped
the writer to solve the problem of the study. These kinds of data could be found
by searching the Internet and from the library observation.
The fourth, the writer collected any kind of fact and proof that would help to do
the analysis from the primary and secondary sources. In this step the writer also
formulated the data, fact and proves that were found, with the problem
formulation that was going to be analyzed.
21
In the last step, the writer started the analysis by applying data,
information, and the theories of symbols, and theme. Analyze the problems and
answered it. Then the writer also gave conclusion for the complete fulfillment of
this project.
22
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter deals with the analysis of the problem formulated in
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, which is divided into two parts. The first part
is concerning with the description of symbols found in the novel, and the second
one is the discussion of the symbols representation. Symbolism played an
important part in the development of story. This narrative technique is used to
give significance to certain people or objects, which represent some other figure.
First, we must understand that the boys are living on the uninhabited
island. Although one cannot be sure of Golding’s motives for choosing the island
setting, it’s probably because it works best to have the characters isolated, where
the laws of their governments cannot reach them. Golding choose children instead
of adolescents, or even adults most likely because children have not yet been fully
conditioned by society to understand right from wrong, and thus in this ignorance,
most of them are guided by their instinct and what is inherent within them. If
older, more knowledgeable characters were chosen, the events of the novel may
not occur as they do.
Golding was influenced by events during the time period that the book
was written, which was around World War II. Golding uses a lot of symbolism in
Lord of the Flies.
The entire book is symbolic of the nature of man and society in general
as the island becomes a society metaphorical to society as a whole and
the hunt at the end of the book symbolic of the war.
(www.todayliterature.com)
23
The author also already created the simple way to the reader by
categorizing the novel into a several subtitle or guide lines to make easier to read
by the reader. For example: at first, the sound of the shell, the fire in the mountain
and the hunts on the beach or the shelters indicated as the settings, the war paint,
the beast, and the title itself the lord of the flies. In this point the author arrange
what he wants to say by giving the subtitle on the each part of the novel.
Golding uses many symbols as literal devices in constructing his Lord of
the Flies. Those symbols can be expressed in the form of place or objects.
A. The Symbols found in the Story
1) Conch Shell
As Mayer and Simms’s theories this conch shell can be concluded into
their definition of symbols, which are the private and cultural symbols. Can be
called the private symbol because according to Mayer and Simms this symbol is
created by the author at the first time and later it would lead to the next symbol or
in other words this conch shell has a great impact to the next symbols in the novel.
The conch can be said as the central symbol that the author made. Second,
according to Stanton’s theory that this conch shell can be said as a symbol
because it often repeated in several time by the author, which is indicated or
reminds to us that this was the important symbol.
“---a conch; ever so expensive…
“We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They will come
when they hear us---“(p.17)
24
This conch shell is the first symbol that came up in the novel. It shows
up at the beginning of the story, found by the main characters, Ralph and Piggy,
and then Piggy told to Ralph the idea to use it to call the other boys and next thing
is to hold a meeting. This is a very important symbol trough out the whole novel.
As the novel progresses the conch-shell becomes a powerful symbol in the
civilization and order in the novel. The whole novel revolves around this central
symbol. The shell is also used firstly when they decide to vote for a chief.
“What’s that?”
Ralph had stopped smiling and was pointing into the lagoon.
Something creamy lay among the ferny weeds.
“A stone”
“No a shell”
“S’right. It’s a shell. I have seen one like that before. On someone’s back
wall. A conch he called it. He used to blow it and then his mum will
come. It’s ever so valuable--- (p.16)
The quotations above explain that the shell was the first thing that they found on
the beach. Ralph and Piggy curious and then they found how to use it, Ralph start
to blow that thing he realizes he can use the sound produced from the shell to call
the other boys.
Later, Ralph and Piggy’s idea is to hold a meeting, by using the sound of
the shell they are calling for the other child.
“He blew from down here.”
Ralph grasped the idea and hit the shell with air from his diaphragm.
Immediately the thing sounded. (p. 18)
The shell is also used firstly when they decide to vote for a chief.
“And another thing. We cannot have everybody talking at once. We’ll
have to have hands up like at school.”
He held the conch before his face and glace around the mouth.
“Then I’ll give him the conch.”
“Conch?”
25
“That’s what this shell called. I’ll give to the next person to speak. He
can hold it when he was speaking.” (p. 36)
From these lines, the writer knows how important the conch for the boys is. To
avoid speaking all at once, Ralph makes his first rule for the boys to follow.
2) Glasses
Stanton’s theory can be applied to this glasses symbol because according
to the theory, something can be called a symbol if developed as a scope that
achieves their meaning within the novel. The glasses might be a common thing or
object which is helping people to see clearer. This idea guide the author to give
description to the reader that the glasses is not just kind of things to help people
able to see clearer, but in this novel the glasses can be used as the object to help
people survive on the uninhabited island. This novel is also had kind of scientific
part or technological things.
As the glasses are developed into an important symbol, later it also
related with the goal of using the glass which is the fire. It is Piggy who is the boy
with the glasses. It came out at the beginning when Jack pointed at Piggy’s glass
to use them as a tool to make a fire. The symbol of glasses is getting clearer when
the boys use the lens from Piggy’s glasses to focus the sunlight to start a fire.
When the boys realize that they have no matches to make the fire, Jack shout that
Piggy’s glasses can used as matches.
Ralph shouted at him, Piggy! Have you got any matches?
My! You have made a big heap, haven’t you?
Jack pointed suddenly.
His specs! Use them as burning glasses! (p. 44)
26
The glasses are very important for Piggy, because he can only see things
clearly if he wears them. When Ralph suggests them to make a signal fire, which
would be necessary if they hope to get rescued, the boys scramble off to gather
wood to build a fire. The glasses are helpfully on the way the boys create the fire.
Without the glasses they could not light up the fire and would be no chance of
being rescued.
3) Signal Fire
As said before that the glasses are related to the next symbol, the signal
fire. The characters of the novel had learns one of the most important thing in
surviving on the island while waiting for the rescue that is making the signal fire.
Long time ago, the ancient people are already use the signal fire first to survive,
during waiting for the help, and then it stated as the best tings assumed as that
they were a “life” on the island.
The symbols came out after the boys used Piggy’s lens on making the
fire. At the first time the boys could not make a fire, but after they realize that
Piggy’s glasses can be used to light on the fire they start to use it. These both
glasses and signal fire got tight relation, and they both gradually become the most
important symbols after the conch shell breaks up on the island.
The signal fire burning on the mountain, later on the beach, to attract the
notice of passing ship that might be able to rescue the boys. In order to be rescued
by the Navy, Ralph finds the solution for all of them. It seen through the lines:
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“There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes
near the island, they might not notice us. So we must make a smoke on
the top of the mountain. We must make a fire.” (p. 41)
The quotation above shows that the signal fire is the only way that could be done
to be rescued from the island. It is the only way out to attract the passes ship that
might be seen from the ocean. As long that the signal fire not burning out they
could be rescued.
4) Mask or the face paint
Here the face paint can be included in the general symbol because even
it appears with a little evidence; it had deep meaning that derived from it.
Jack and his tribes used the white water lilies to paint their face.
“One of them contained white clay, and the other red by them lay a stick
of charcoal brought down from the fire.
“He rubbed the charcoal stick between the patches of red and white on
his face. (p. 68)
“Jack planned his new face. He made one check and one eye socket
white, then rubbed red over the other half of his face and slashed a black
bar of charcoal across from right ear to the left jaw. He looked in the
mere for his reflection, but his breathing troubled the mirror. (p. 69)
This symbol comes out when Jack already elected as the chief of the
hunter tribes and he prefer to use mask on doing their action. Hunting and
collecting the food are their only job; by painting their face Jack and his tribes are
trying to frighten the other boys on the island. Soon Jack and his tribes are trying
to conquer Ralph tribe and also the island. This action leads to a strong feeling of
liberation that result from wearing the mask allows many of the boys to
participate in the inhumane pig hunts. When concealed by masks of clay paint, the
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hunters seem to have new personalities as they forget their old society that once
restrained them from giving in to their natural urges. For example when Jack first
paints his face to his satisfaction, he suddenly becomes a new savage person.
He began to dance and his laughter became bloodthirsty snarling he
capered toward Bill, and the mask a thing of its own, behind which Jack
hid, liberated from the shame and self-consciousness. The face of red
and white and black swung through the air and jigged towards Bill. (p.
69)
From the quotations above we can see that after the boys, Jack’s and his
tribes painted their face, their attitudes have change into a different child.
5) Shelters
The shelter is also can be stated into general symbol because it
developed into the important part of the novel, yet it gives the strong indication
that has deep meaning behind it.
The shelter was made by Ralph and Piggy while Jack and his tribes
prefer to play and hunting for the pig. Actually Ralph already realized that the
shelter would be useful during they are on the island waiting for the rescue.
“You wouldn’t care to help with the shelters, I suppose?”
“We want meat---“
“And we don’t get it.”
“But I shall! Next time! I’ve got to get a barb on this spear! (p. 56)
This symbol came out after the boys needed a place to keep their safety
toward the beast and it is also use as the place in their waiting for the helps. The
shelter which is built on the beach becomes the one place where they could keep
together. First, they thing that the shelter was not the important thing and they just
29
playing around, but later on when the fear and the issues developed soon they
understands the important of it.
“If it rains like when we dropped in we’ll need shelters all right.
And then another thing. We need shelters because of the ____” (p. 56)
From the quotation above we can see that the shelter is also used as a place
to protect the boys from the fear issues.
6) Rocks
The rock symbol came out almost at the end of the novel when Jack’s
tribe used for a base to state their evil purpose on destroying or kills Ralph’ tribe.
This symbol has strong indication in the story when Jack’s tribe killed Piggy by
throwing him the rocks until Piggy die. It is Roger who feels strong and powerful
as he stands on the ledge above Piggy. “High overhead, Roger, with a sense of
delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever” (p. 200). When the
rock lands below, it not only strikes Piggy, but it also shatters the conch shell.
However, when the rock causes both of these to cease to exist, all order on the
island is brought to an end, and the boys, who express no regrets over the death of
Piggy, have fully become savages.
7) Knife
This symbol came out when Jack’s power grows up and he uses the
knife to cut the pig throat. The killing of the pig made them forgets about their
goal which is to look after the fire and make it keep on burns so that known by the
passing ship.
30
“Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same, I’d like to catch a pig first__”
(p.58)
“I could the pig’s throat” said Jack proudly and yet twitched as he said it.
“Can I borrow yours, Ralph to make a nick in the hilt?” (p. 75)
From these statements, we can see that the boys ignore their main purpose which
is being saved from the island.
8) Beast
Golding gives the universal problem that might happen to someone or
people or children who lives in uninhabited island which is fear, by creating the
beast as the fear factor among them. According to Mayer and Simms’s theory, this
beast is included as the general symbol, meaning to say that this beast symbol
appears within smaller evidence but it has deeper meaning.
Actually the fear among the children already exists within the boy’s
inside but the boys are trying to ignore it by playing and forgeting the purpose of
being rescued.
“Last night I had a dream, a horrid dream, fighting with things. I was
outside the shelter by my self, fighting with things, those twisty things in
the trees.”
“Then I was frightened and I woke up. And I was out side the shelter by
myself in the dark and twisty things had gone away”
“And I was frightened and started to call out for Ralph and then I saw
something moving among the trees, something big and horrid.”(P.92-93)
In the imaginations of many of the boys, the beast is a tangible source of
evil on the island. However, in reality, it represents the evil naturally present
within everyone, which is causing life on the island to deteriorate. Simon begins
to realize this even before his encounter with the Lord of the Flies, and during one
31
argument over the existence of a beast, he attempts to share his insight with the
others.
The beast is an unseen figure on the island, which is symbolized with the
dead parachutist. The beast is being introduced early in the first part of the novel.
It stands for subjective fear of mankind. Means that the imaginary beast in the
novel that frightens all the boys stands for the power of savagery that exists within
all human kind.
There was a speck above the island, a figure dropping swiftly beneath
the parachute, a figure that hung with dangling limbs. The changing
winds of various altitudes took the figure where they would. The figure
fell and crumpled among the blue flowers of the mountain side, but now
there was a gentle breeze at this height too and the parachute flopped and
banged and pulled. So the figure, with feet that dragged behind it, slid up
the mountain (p. 104)
The quotation shows firstly what was the figure is, which later this along with the
fear that comes up inside all children, this issues of figure become stronger and
become more real.
9) Lord of the Flies
First the title of this novel is really interesting; beside the title of this
novel has really symbolic meaning, this title also the central idea of this novel,
where it is related with all the elements of the novel. The Lord of the Flies is the
bloody, severed sow’s head that Jack impales on a stake in the forest as an
offering to the beast. This Lord of the Flies is the final transformational of the
beast. This symbol came out at the middle of the story. It is Simon who got the
strong relation to this symbol.
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In A Glossary of Literary Terms states that symbol is anything, which
signifies something else; in this sense, all words are symbols. In discussing
literature, the term symbol is applied only to a word or phrase that signifies an
object or an event that in turn signifies something, or has a range of reference
(Abrams, 1981:195). From this statement it can be concluded that to be called a
symbol, an item must suggest a meaning different in kinds from its literal
meaning. Applied to this theory, the title of this novel is precisely.
Golding's description of the slaughtered animal's head on a spear is very
graphic and even frightening. The pig's head is depicted as "dim-eyed, grinning
faintly, blood blackening between the teeth," and the "obscene thing" is covered
with a "black blob of flies" that "tickled under his nostrils" (p. 137). As a result of
this detailed, striking image, the reader becomes aware of the great evil and
darkness represented by the Lord of the Flies
The sow’s head in the jungle seems telling him that evil lies within every
human heart and the sow’s head promising to have fun with him.
“There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the beast.”
Simon mouth labored, brought forth audible words.
“Pig’s head on a stick”
….we are going to have fun on this island. Understand? We are going to
have fun on this island! So don’t try it on, my poor misguided boy, or
else---“(p. 158-159)
The quotation tells that Simon did not believe in any beast or the ritual that Jack
was made. This fun is also foreshadows Simon’s death in the following scene.
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10) Island
The setting of the novel according to Mayer and Simms’s theory can be
considered as the general symbol because even it just appears with the smaller
evidence but it contains more associative meanings, meaning to say that the
setting symbolizes the author’s description of what would happened to the
characters if they are living on an isolated island, even it is happened to the
children.
The island is the setting of the novel, where all of the characters are
living on it. In this way, the island is divided into two things, the jungle and the
beach. As for the jungle, this is the place when the boys’ fear grows after they got
the issues from one of the littluns that the ever seen a beast on the jungle. This
issues next also supported by Sam and Eric, the twins that also see the figure of
the beast among of the tall trees in the jungle.
“It was furry. There was something moving behind its head-wings.
“The beast moved too—“
“That was awful. It kind of sat up—“
“The fire was bright—“
“We’re just made it up—“
“—more sticks on—“
“There were eyes—“
“Teeth—“
“Claws—“
“We ran as fast as we could—“
“Bashed into things—“
“The beast followed us—“(p.109)
The quotations are the description of the setting said by the writer in the beginning
of the novel. Next on the page 30, the main character, Ralph also said something
about the setting.
34
“That’s a reef. A coral reef. I’ve seen picture like that” (p.30)
Second, the sea, it is also symbolic things that function as something that
stays unchanged and provide comfort in time of distress and in which things that
makes one forget bad and painful experiences. Playing on the beach is the first
thing they did, while they waiting for the rescue. They do not realize that
afterward they would found others dilemma among them.
The shore was fledged with palm trees. Those stood or leaned or reclined
against the light and their green feathers were a hundred feet up in the
air. The ground beneath them was a bank covered with coarse grass, torn
everywhere by the upheavals of fallen trees, scattered with decaying
coco-nuts and palm saplings (p. 10)
From the quotation above, we can see that Golding create a comfort
place on the island while they are living on the isolated island. The description of
the setting is form a beautiful view.
B. The Significance of the Symbols
Golding’s statement “the whole novel is symbolic except for the rescue
at the end.” Lord of the Flies is a symbolic novel that goes beyond a group of
English schoolboys who are stranded on an island and the boys have to survive on
their own. Golding did an excellent job of characterization and symbols through
the novel. The symbols that he included related each other and the symbols give
that found in the novel has turned to an important element of the whole novel.
The author use symbols as literal in constructing his Lord of the Flies.
Those symbols can be expressed in the form of person or character because the
35
characters found in the novel represent certain qualities of mankind in general,
they can also be expressed in the form of place or other objects.
The objects that the boys used during on the island play important role in
supporting their activities. Later, these objects can be identified as symbols due to
their frequent appearances.
The symbols behind the objects are contextual symbol due to only by
reading the novel thoroughly, the writer is able to conclude that each of these
object symbolizes something.
1. The Conch
The conch is a big shell which we can usually see and find it at the sea
shore. The Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus defines the conch as “thick, heavy
spiral shell, occasionally bearing long projections, of various marine gastropod
mollusk of the family “strombidae” (1996: 289). A conch shell will produce long
hearing sound if we blow it. Long time ago, the ancient people use the conch to
communicate or to invite people or making them gathers around.
The conch shell symbolizes the law and order of adult world, this is a
very important symbol trough out the whole novel. As Ralph and Piggy discover
the conch-shell on the beach at the start at the novel and use it to call the boys
together after the crash separate them. Piggy is the one who has an idea to use the
conch shell to call their lost friends, but since he has asthma, he can not blow it.
He asks for Ralph’s help.
We can use it to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when
they hear us… (p.17)
36
Piggy’s idea is brilliant, moreover, after Ralph blew the conch, one by
one their lost friends appears.
“He blew from down here.”
Ralph grasped the idea and hit the shell with air from his diaphragm.
Immediately, the thing sounded. A deep, harsh note boomed under the
palms, spread through the intricacies of the forest and echoed back from
the pink granite of the mountain. (p. 18)
Used in the capacity, the conch-shell becomes a powerful symbol in the
civilization and order in the novel. As it always stands for authority on which they
hold in their meeting. The shell is also used firstly when they decide to vote for a
chief.
“And another thing. We cannot have everybody talking at once. We’ll
have to have hands up like at school.”
He held the conch before his face and glace around the mouth.
“Then I’ll give him the conch.”
“Conch?”
“That’s what this shell called. I’ll give to the next person to speak. He
can hold it when he was speaking.” (p. 36)
From these lines, the writer knows how important the conch for the boys is. To
avoid speaking all at once, Ralph makes his first rule for the boys to follow.
The conch-shell effectively governs the boys meeting. For the boys who
hold the conch, hold the right to speak. Because of this, the conch-shell is more
than a symbol but it also a tool that show the important means of political
influence and democratic power. But later, when the boys descent into savagery,
the conch-shell loses its power and influence among them.
“How about us Ralph?”
“You haven’t got the conch. Here.”
“I mean how about us? Suppose the beast comes when you’re all away. I
can’t see proper, and if I get scared…..”
Jack broke in, contemptuously.
You’re always scared.”
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“I got the conch”
“Conch! Conch!” shouted Jack “we don’t need the conch anymore!” (p.
111)
The whole novel revolves around the central symbol as the intensive power
struggle and also a struggle to control the conch. Jack has a very close related to
the conch because in one hand he revolves against it and on the other hand he
always struggles to take it over. It shows when he has formed his own gang.
“I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you!’ Most of the boys were
looking down now at the grass at their feet. Jack clears his throat again.
“I’m not going to be part of Ralph’s lot-“(p. 140)
Later, the power of conch-shell collapses, when Ralph clutched the shell
desperately when he talks about his rule in murdering Simon. The other boys
ignore Ralph and throw stone at him when he attempts to blow the conch in the
Jack’s camp. And the fact that the conch exploded into tiny pieces at the very
moment when Piggy is killed, signifying the demise of civilized and the symbol of
authority.
So here the conch shell stand for the law and order of the adult world,
the conch is also associated with the democratic procedures or rules for speaking.
Anyone who holds the conch has the right to speak and to be listened. The conch
also symbolizes discipline; for it can make the boys obey the rules and keep quiet,
and it is also a symbol of unity, since through the conch Ralph gather all the lost
boys on the island.
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2. The Glasses
In Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture, glasses are
two pieces of especially cut glass in frame, worm in front of the eyes for
improving a person ability to see (1992:551).
The glasses symbolize the voice of reason and logic among the boys.
Piggy keeps the glasses even more than the conch because he is the on among the
boys whom wear glasses. The glass is also developed into an important symbol. It
symbolizes the power of intellectual person of Piggy. The symbol of glasses is
clear in the start of the novel, when the boys use the lens from Piggy’s glasses to
focus the sunlight to start a fire. When the boys realize that they have no matches
to make the fire, Jack shout that Piggy’s glasses can used as matches.
Ralph shouted at him, Piggy! Have you got any matches?
My! You have made a big heap, haven’t you?
Jack pointed suddenly.
His specs! Use them as burning glasses! (p. 44)
The glasses are very important for Piggy, because he can only see things
clearly if he wears them. When Ralph suggests them to make a signal fire, which
would be necessary if they hope to be rescued, the boys scramble off to gather
wood to build a fire. Unsure how to light it, they finally grab Piggy’s and focus
the sunlight to ignite the fire.
“Here... let me go!” His voice rose to a shriek as Jack snatched the
glasses off his face. Mind out! Give them back! I can hardly see.
You’ll break the conch
From this moment, besides the conch, Piggy’s glasses are also considered as the
important devises for the boys. “Piggy’s specs!” shouted Ralph, “if the fire’s right
out, we’ll need them… (p. 73)
39
Both the glasses and the conch are considered as dangerous instrument
in the hands of Jack’s gang. So when Jack’s hunter raid Ralph’s camp and steal
the glasses, the savage effectively take power to make a fire, leaving Ralph’s
group helpless. And that is why Jack takes such pair to destroy them both together
with Piggy.
What’ll we use for lightning the fire?
The chief’s blush was hidden by the white and red clay. Into his silent,
the tribe spill their murmur once more. The n the chief held up his hand.
“We shall take fire from the other. Tomorrow we will hunt and get meat.
To-night I will go along with two hunters who will come?”
Maurice and Roger put up their hand.
“Maurice------“
Where was the fire?
“Back at the old place by the fire rock.”
The Chief nodded (p. 178).
From the quotation above we can see that the glasses are really important thing
beside the conch, which it useful for the both tribes to have since the glasses are
referring to the civilization.
3. Signal fire
A smoke signal in Longman Dictionary of English Language and
Culture is a signal to people from a distance way made, especially by Native
Americans former times, by repeatedly covering a smoking signal fire for
particular period of times and then allowing the trapped smoke to rise in the air
(1992:480).
The signal fire has definitely a function as a symbol of hope for the
future. And first of all hope for rescue. The signal fire burning on the mountain,
later on the beach, used to attract the notice of passing ship that might be able to
40
rescue the boys. In order to be rescued by the Navy, Ralph finds the solution for
all of them. It seen through the lines:
“There’s another thing. We can help them to find us. If a ship comes
near the island, they might not notice us. So we must make a smoke on
the top of the mountain. We must make a fire.” (p. 41)
It is obvious that Ralph knows how to attract the Navy. It might be come
from his father as the Navy commander. The signal fire might become their last
chance; therefore, Ralph asks the littluns to keep an eye on it. When Ralph and the
other boys are swimming in the bathing pool later on, the smoke from a ship is
spotted in the distance. Ralph shouts anxiously” Smoke! Smoke!”’ as he sees a
ship passing on the horizon (p.71). It is what they have longed for since their
arrival on the island, but the ship passes by because they have no signal fire.
Ralph is very sad and cries out “God, oh God” (p. 73). Ralph is really mad and
hopeless because the signal fire was out at the same time when the Navy’ ship
tries to find out them. Neither Ralph nor the other boys are so hopeless. Notice
that the signal fire is very important to them, Ralph asks the boys to watch for the
fire. Last experience has given them too many disappointments and Ralph does
not want to do it again.
“Your only hope is keeping a signal fire going as long as there’s light to
see.
Then may be a ship will notice the smoke and come and rescued us and
takes us home. But without that smoke….” (p. 197)
As a result, the signal fire becomes a barometer of the boy’s connection to
civilization. In every part of the novel, the fact that the boys tried to maintain the
fire is kind of sign that they want to be rescued and return to their society. When
the fire burns low, or goes out, the boys realized that they have lost sight of their
41
desire to be rescued and have accepted their savage live on the island. Showed
when the twin, Sam and Eric later, Jack let the fire die out.
“How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first thing first and
act proper?” (p. 50)
They were twins, on duty at the fire. In theory, one should have been
asleep and one on watch. But they could never manage to do things
sensibly if that mean acting independently, and since staying awake all
night was impossible, they had both gone to sleep. (p. 105)
The quotation explained that it is only Ralph who understands the importance of
the signal fire, while Jack and the other boys prefer to play and hunting for pigs
than to keep the fire burns.
The signal fire function as a kind of civilization strength on the island.
At the end of the novel, a signal fire finally discovered by the passing ship. It is
happened after Piggy’s glasses is in the hand of Jack’s tribe and when Jack uses to
make a fire to burn Ralph out of hiding place in the jungle. Ironically, it summons
a ship to the island but not as the signal fire. Instead it is the fire of savagery to
hunt and kill Ralph.
4. The Mask or the Face Paint
According to Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture,
mask means a thing that used for someone to cover up their real identity, so here
the mask symbolizes the nonrepresentational of each individual on the story.
Means that the way the children put the mask on their face firstly came out
because the children wants to have fun with it, but in the other side, it represent to
something that unreal, something different from they way they used to be.
42
Wearing masks of green and other colors, the boys feel compelled to
hunt the pig, being much brave than normal. Golding explains that with the
masks, the boys were "liberated from shame and self-consciousness."
The degeneration of the boys' way of life is also very evident through the
symbolic masks. When concealed by masks of clay paint, the hunters, especially
Ralph, seem to have new personalities as they forget the taboos of society that
once restrained them from giving in to their natural urges. For example, when
Jack first paints his face to his satisfaction, he suddenly becomes a new, savage
person. "He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling. He
capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing of its own, behind which Jack hid,
liberated from shame and self-consciousness" (p. 64). Certainly, Jack would not
have acted in such a way if he had been in his home society, but behind the mask
of paint, Jack feels free to act like a savage. It is also noteworthy, that the first
mask that Jack creates is red, white, and black. These colors archetypically
symbolize violence, terror, and evil, respectively, and in this novel, Golding uses
these colors to illustrate those characteristics that are inherently present in
humans.
The feeling of liberation that results from wearing the masks allows
many of the boys to participate in the barbaric, inhumane pig hunts. Those hunts
can be interpreted as symbolizing the boys' primal urges or even anarchy. In fact,
many of the boys become so engulfed in their quest for the blood of a pig that
they seem to forget about their hopes of returning to civilization and neglect to
keep the signal fire burning. When Ralph tries to explain how important the signal
43
fire is, Jack and the other hunters are still occupied with thoughts of the
successful, gruesome hunt in which they just participated. "There was lashings of
blood,' said Jack, laughing and shuddering, you should have seen it!'" (p. 69).
Also, during a later celebration over another successful hunt, the boys become
carried away while reenacting the slaughter. However, the boys have become so
much like savages that they are unable to control themselves, and for a moment,
they mistake Simon for the beast. "The sticks fell and the mouth of the circle
crunched and screamed. The beast was on its knees in the center, its arm folded
over its face" (p. 152). As a result of their uncontrolled urges, the boys soon kill
one of their own.
5. The Shelters
Golding's third chapter begins with Jack hunting for pigs in the jungle.
Meanwhile, Ralph and Simon keep busy working on the shelters. Ralph becomes
upset that he and Simon are doing all of the work, realizing that everyone else is
"bathing, or eating, or playing."
The made of the shelter or the hunt is came out from their thought,
means that they already know what they should do while waiting for being
rescued. But this would not last forever; later their way is being covered by their
natural thought which is to have some fun or play.
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6. The Rocks
In Oxford Advance Learner’s Dictionary, rock is a solid stony parts of
the earths crust (Revise and Updated, 735). It has indicates something cold and
brutal. It develops throughout the novel from the part when Roger does not dare to
hit the little one with stones and the killing of Piggy.
The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch
shell exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. The
rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and
landed on his back across that square, red rock in the sea. Piggy’s arms
and legs twitched a bit, like a pig after it has been killed. (p. 200)
The rock also develops gradually when Jack’s tribes attempt to kill Ralph with
stone when Ralph flees to Jack’s tribe and the last thing is the brutality of “Castle
Rock” itself where all the evil plan were created and put into practice.
Far off along the bow stave of the beach, three Figures trotted towards
the Castle rock. They kept away from the forest and down by the water.
Occasionally they sang softly; occasionally they turned cartwheels down
by the moving streak of phosphorescence. 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. (p.186)
7. The Knife
In Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture, knife, defines
as a blade fixed in a handle used for a cutting as tool or a weapon (1992; 726).
Jack’s knife is a symbol of the death and destruction that accompany his every
act. It is also symbol of threatening power for destructive violence.
The knife, which always accompanies Jack, makes him more arrogant
and merciless. He also uses the knife to threaten the other boys. Jack also feels
satisfied when he can kill a pig with his knife and see the lashes blood run through
45
his knife. When Ralph tells them that they are alone on an uninhabited island,
Jack quickly interrupts to insists that an army is still necessary for hunting pigs,
and when they described how the piglet escaped, Jack again slams knife into a
tree trunk, muttering about the ‘next time’.
“Yes. There are pigs on the island.” All three of them tried to convey the
sense of the pink live thing struggling in the creepers.
From the lines above we can see that they are already wants to hunt for
the pigs, and forget about the building the shelters, the making of the signal fire,
and the aim of being rescued from the island.
8. The Beast
The beast is an unseen figure on the island, which is symbolized with the
dead parachutist. Golding's sixth chapter starts the introduction with the issues of
the beast that become real. He details the night-time arrival of a parachutist onto
the mountain of the island. It’s often speculated that this is the plane's pilot, yet
Golding never confirms this one way or the other. The man in the parachute is
dead: that's for sure. Golding narrates, "There was a sudden bright explosion and
corkscrew trail across the sky; then darkness again and stars. There was a speck
above the island, a figure dropping swiftly beneath a parachute, a figure that hung
with dangling limbs."
The dead body flying in the parachute symbolizes the end of adult
supervision of the boys on the island. While the parachute man is flapping back
and forth on the island, conjuring up a powerful image of its prolonged death, the
Beast, or Lord of the Flies, is prospering under its new control over Jack and most
46
of the other boys on the island. So while the law and order of the adult world is
waning, childish chaos is growing exponentially.
There was speck above the island, a figure dropping swiftly beneath a
parachute, a figure that hung with dangling limbs. The changing winds
of various altitudes took the figure where they would. The figure fell and
crumpled among the blue flowers of the mountain side, but now there
was a gentle breeze at this height too and the parachute flopped and
banged and pulled. So the figure, with feet that dragged behind it, slid up
the mountain. Here the breeze was fitful and allowed the stings of the
parachute to tangle and festoon; its helmeted head between its knees,
held by a complication of lines. Then each time the wind drooped, the
lines would slacken and the figure bow forward again, sinking its head
between its knees. So as the stars moved across the sky, the figure sat on
the mountain top and bowed and sank and bowed again (p. 104-105).
The quotation shows that the dead parachutist here started to turn out into the first
signs of the beast which not really a real exist. This dead parachutist was not
seeing well by the twins, so the twins prefer to believe that it was a real beast.
Simon has a special connection with the parachute man. He climbs the
mountain, subconsciously, to determine whether the parachute man is still alive.
When he finds out that the man is dead and that the Beast is alive, Simon has a
nervous breakdown. The moral confrontation which occurs when Simon has the
interview with the Lord of the Flies which symbolizes man’s inability to conquer
the evil anarchy of the devil.
“I think we ought to climb the mountain.”
There’s anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the best. Fancy thinking
the beast was something you could hunt and kill1” said the head. (p.
158)
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Simon was the first person who realize the problem posed by the beast and the
Lord of the Flies is that the monster on the island is not real, physical beast but
rather than savagery that lurks within each boys on the island.
The beast is being introduced early in the first part of the novel. It stands
for subjective fear of mankind. Means that the imaginary beast in the novel that
frightens all the boys stands for the power of savagery that exists within all human
kind. The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon who the first one defines
this fear, that they fear of the beast because it exist within each of the boys, and no
body believes him. As the boys grow more savage, their belief in the beast grows
stronger. Moreover Jack decides to use the beast frightening the other boys. Jack
expertly uses the beast and convincing that the beast is real thing.
“Beastie?”
A snake thing. Ever so big. He saw it.
Where?”
In the woods.”(p. 39)
This was the first issues of the beast they faced. The issues are getting stronger
after the littluns had a frightening dream where they saw the beast turning into the
real image.
Last night I had a dream, a horrid dream, fighting with things. I was out
side the shelter by myself, fighting with things, and those twisty things
in the trees (p. 92-93)
“It was furry. There was something moving behind its head – wings. The
beast moved too...”
… There were eyes...
“Teeth…”
“Claws…”
”we ran as fast as we could…”
“Bashed into things…”
“The beast followed us...” (p. 109)
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The quotation explained that the issues of the beast are already getting stronger
than ever. Indicates when the twins, Sam and Eric saw the unknown figure flying
in the sky, and they told the thing as the beast which already appear.
The beast has developed in fact from a human fantasy into the real
image. The boys on the island help the development of the beast by the rituals,
dance, and the sacrificed. And it implies the beast into existence, so the more
savagery the boys act, the more real beast seems to be come.
9. The Lord of the Flies
The title of this novel has really symbolic meaning. The Lord of the
Flies is the bloody, severed sow’s head that Jack impales on a stake in the forest
as an offering to the beast. This Lord of the Flies is the final transformational of
the beast. It indicates a link between Jack and his evil side through Lord of the
Flies. This symbol is really interesting to be concealing when at the middle of the
novel, Simon, the boy who don’t believe in the beast speaks to the sow’s head that
Jack stake in the jungle as an offering to the beast. The sow’s head in the jungle
seems telling him that evil lies within every human heart and the sow’s head
promising to have fun with him.
“There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the beast.”
Simon mouth labored, brought forth audible words.
“Pig’s head on a stick”
….we are going to have fun on this island. Understand? We are going to
have fun on this island! So don’t try it on, my poor misguided boy, or
else---“(p. 158-159)
The quotation tells that Simon did not believe in any beast or the ritual that Jack
was made. This fun is also foreshadows Simon’s death in the following scene. In
49
this way, the Lord of the Flies becomes physical of the beast, and a symbol of
power of evil and kind of Satan figure who evokes the beast within each human
being. Later, Simon has a valuable experience where he finally found that the
beast which later turned into Lord of the Flies, who spoke to him, was only the
fear that already turned out into savagery among all the boys on the island.
10. The Island
The story's setting presents two more symbols that assist in showing the
decline of civility on the island. A majority of the island is taken up by the jungle,
which is used by many authors as an archetype to represent death and decay. In
fact, since the jungle is the lair of the beast, it, too, symbolizes the darkness
naturally present within humans that is capable of ruling their lives. This evil
eventually spreads to almost every boy on the island, just as in the jungle,
"darkness poured out, submerging the ways between the trees till they were dim
and strange as the bottom of the sea" (p. 57). At one end of the island, where the
plane carrying the boys most likely crashed, there is a "long scar smashed into the
jungle" (p. 1). While Golding does not include a large amount of description about
the scar, the image of "broken trunks" with "jagged edges" is sufficient to give the
reader an idea of the destruction caused to the island (p. 1, 2). Symbolically, this
scar represents the destruction that man is naturally capable of causing and can be
related to the harm the boys ultimately cause to one another, including the deaths
of three boys, before they are rescued.
50
Golding purposefully picked an island to be the landing place of the
crashed plane because an island is isolated from the rest of society. The boys have
no contact with the outside world and must look to themselves to solve the
problems of their own micro-society.
“We’re on an island. We’ve been on the mountain top and see water all
around. We saw no houses, no smoke, no foot prints, no boats, no
people. We’re on an inhabited island with no other people on it.”(p. 35)
The quotation explained that the boy are really landed on the deserted island
where there was inhabited and for the next thing they could not do anything.
The setting of the novel, the island is divided into two places; they are
the jungle (including the mountain) and the sea. The sea is considered as symbol
that functions as something that stays unchanged and provides comfort in time of
distress and in which things that makes one forget bad and painful experiences.
The way that the boys enjoyed themselves in the water in the beginning of the
novel supports such an interpretation and also fashion in which both the pilot,
Piggy and Simon are peacefully and devoured by the sea.
Sings of life were visible now on the beach. The sand, trembling beneath
the heat-haze, concealed many figures in its miles of length; boys were
making their way towards the platform through the hot, dumb sand. (p.
19)
…. No one else. They’re bathing, or eating, or playing.” (p. 55)
From the quotation we could see meanwhile the boys are isolated on the island,
the boys prefer to spend their time with playing and the sea, where the sea is
preferred as the way or the place to forget their problem a little while.
In this way, the island, which symbolizes isolation, serves as a perfect
10backdrop for the frailties of human nature which eventually surface.
51
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
Having done the analysis, the writer comes to the conclusion of the
thesis. This analysis deals with William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The symbols
found in the story are playing important role. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies
is full of symbols. These symbols appear frequently throughout the story and give
significant idea. The symbols are revealed through the setting, the title itself and
the objects that used by the boys during their long-lived days on the isolated
island.
The Lord of the Flies included many of important symbols that can be
interpreted in many ways. Golding already used the symbol at the beginning of
the novel. The first symbol is a Conch shell. The existential of this conch shell is
described as the instrument to call up for a meeting and stated as the rule and later
lead us to the next symbol which is the making of the signal fire that would help
the boys to be seen by the passing ship. But before the making of the signal fire,
the boys find brilliant idea to make the fire; they used the sun light, focused into
Piggy’s specs. These glasses also can be said as the symbol of intelligence.
One of the most important and most obvious symbols in Lord of the
Flies is the object that gives the novel its name, the pig's head. Golding's
description of the slaughtered animal's head on a spear is very graphic and even
frightening.
52
The Lord of the Flies contains a lot of symbols in the novel. At the
beginning of the novel, we already seen from the title that is symbolic, meaning to
say the title itself has made the reader more curious about the novel. Then came to
the first part of the novel, the writer has put the symbol clearly by wrote down or
descript the conch, and the way of using it. Later the writer knows the conch is the
symbol of order, rules that would lead the boys on the island to be civilized. The
next symbol is the glasses that Piggy wears. This glasses symbols is being used by
the boys on the island to light on the fire, to make a smoke signal to the passing
ship, so that the passing ship would be able to see and then would rescued them
from the island. The glasses is related with the signal fire symbol, as being said
before that this signal fire’s symbol is use to attract the passing ship, this signal
fire is also use as the indication or the barometer of civilization and as a sign that
there is a live in the island. This symbol is related with the shelters symbol, the
shelters symbol is also indicated as the barometer of civilization.
Beside the title, Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies’ setting, the island, is
can be assumed as the symbol too. The island is descripting as uninhabited island
mean that there’s no one who live in it. The island is also symbolizing isolation
from the adult world. The island setting is divided into two places, the jungle and
the sea. As for the jungle, it symbolizes the fear among the boys, and the sea is
symbolized as the comfort place to forget that they are living on the uninhabited
island.
Next, the mask symbolizing the changes in boy’s personalities because
wearing the mask, the boys become savage. The picking of the colors of the mask
53
which are red, white and black assume as symbol of violent, terror and evil.
Golding uses these colors to illustrate those characteristics that are inherently
present in humans. The wearing of the mask has a strong indication to the hunt of
the pigs, which can be interpreted as the boy’s anarchy. It has relation with the
knife symbol that Jack’s use. The use of the knife is symbolic, the knife itself
symbolizing the death and destruction. Knife that is always accompany Jack while
hunting the pigs, is also use to threatening the other boys.
One of the most memorable symbols that are used to show the violence
and darkness which comes to rule life on the island is the rock, which Roger
releases to kill Piggy. As a classic in literature, a rock can symbolize strength and
power, and since this rock is red, it also represents violence. It is Roger who feels
strong and powerful as he stands on the ledge above Piggy. When the rock lands
below, it not only strikes Piggy, but it also shatters the conch shell.
Golding also creating the boy’s fear by giving the fear issues, the beast,
the dead parachutist and the Lord of the Flies. The beast is symbolizing the break
down of the adult world in the island. It is shown in the novel along with breaking
down of the conch and glasses ‘power. The beast has a relation with the Lord of
the Flies symbol. Meaning to say, the Lord of the Flies is the final transformation
of all the fear and beast issues.
In conclusion, Lord of the Flies is a story that included many symbols.
The author, William Golding was genius to create such kind of symbols that
portrays the dark, deteriorating life that results from mankind's inherent capacity
54
for evil, which is allowed to control humans when they are freed from the rules of
society.
55
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