Lord of the Flies
Full book report
1.
A person’s behaviour is determined by several causes through out his life. The phase already begins when we are born. As a child we’re taught how to behave by our parents. Later on our teachers and surroundings influence our behaviour towards a more and more civilized one. In a society we’re kept as civilized as possible by following rules and laws. If we as human beings are placed away from a society, will we be able to maintain our civilized characters, or will we become savaged barbarians? This is the theme William Golding creates in his novel The Lord of the Flies from 1954. Golding takes his readers on a journey, where he shows what mankind is capable of doing through youngsters. The question is: can the young kids maintain civilization?

2.c.
The Lord of the Flies is a novel about a group of young boys who crash on an island. While they’re stuck on the island they manage to establish some order and civilization by choosing a leader and by using a conch shell to arrange meetings between the boys. The established civilization crumbles as the book goes on because some of the boys can’t control their animalistic qualities.
The boys waddle between the human instinct of savagery and the civilized ways of order, which they’re taught from home. Despite the fact that they try to establish order they become more and more drawn towards savagery throughout the book.

The sow’s head and the conch shell are both symbols of power, but in different ways. After Jack and his hunters kill the sow, Roger determinedly drives his spear up the sow’s anus. This is described barbarically. It wasn’t necessary for Roger to spear the sow’s anus, but in the savage frenzy he was in, he couldn’t resist the feeling of power. He was in control over the animal. They leave the sow’s head on a sharpened stick in the jungle as an offering to the ‘Beastie’. It’s a ‘cavemen-like’ behaviour to offer a sow to the beast. To elaborate on what is meant with ‘cavemen-like’ behaviour, nowadays this event would not happen in a civilized society. Today we would look upon this as an uncivilized behaviour with associations to cavemen. To interpret this event, lines can be drawn to religious rituals. The offering of the sow to the ‘Beastie’ can be compared to offerings to God from the Old Testament. The ‘Beastie’ symbolizes God, while the sow symbolizes the offering. Using a Freudian analysis another conclusion can be drawn upon the symbolization of the sow’s head. Simon finds the sow’s head covered with flies in the jungle. The head speaks to him: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill (…) you knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?” (p. 158, ll. 18-21). This quote can be interpreted, as the Beast is a part of everyone, our Id. This is the animalistic conscience of all human beings, which is being referred to by the Beast, and that is why the Beast is not just something that can be hunted and killed.
The conch shell is a different symbol of power. Its power lies within the civilized leadership. The conch shell is used to gather all of the boys on the island. It’s used for meetings and arrangements for the boys on the island to stay as civilized as possible. At these meetings they are only allowed to speak while they hold the conch shell, so the conch shell is used to keep order between the boys. Ralph tries to use the conch shell as a quality of power because he is the first and strongest to make a sound out of the conch shell. This is why he’s chosen as the chief in the beginning, so it’s very powerful for Ralph. To exemplify that the conch shell symbolizes the power of civilization an example with Jack can be used: “Conch! Conch! (...) We don't need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things. (...) It's time some people knew they've got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us" (p. 111, ll. 22-26). This quote demonstrates the intimidation Jack has towards the conch shell. Jack is the barbaric one of the boys. He doesn’t want the conch shell to be a part of the meetings anymore, because he believes that not everyone is worthy enough to speak. This shows us that the conch shell is a symbol of civilization and because Jack is against this civilized society he is also against the conch shell. The conch shell is more a symbol of civilized power to control the group of boys, whereas the sow’s head is a symbol of the power of the Id.

Lord of the Flies is certainly a novel about power. The conch shell and the sow’s head are both symbols of power, which is already explained. The signal fire is also a power symbol. The fire is the most important symbol for the boys on the island because it’s their only chance for someone to come and rescue them. The boys’ eagerness to maintain the fire all day and all night is a sign that they still want to be rescued. Therefor, the signal fire is a symbol of civilization and also power to control the civilization.

3.
There are a lot of symbols of power in this novel. They are all used to symbolize different elements of the theme of the novel. The sow’s head, the conch shell and the signal fire are each symbols of power in different ways. These symbols control the boys also in different ways. They’re either drawn towards savaged behaviour or towards establishment and civilization by these symbols.
The ‘social literary experiment’, which Golding creates in Lord of the Flies, by placing young boys on a deserted island, tells the reader about Golding’s trust in the human race. He clearly doubts that young boys will be able to maintain civilisation when they’re abandoned on an island. He believes that we’ll all give in to our barbaric savaged instinct that lies within us all, which is exactly what the boys do in the end.