lord of flies

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Anthony Lomatchinski

Ms. McManigal

English 2, Period 3

16 December, 2013

Even the Most Innocent

Can an object stand for something more than just its self? If so this object would be called a symbol. In the book "Lord of the Flies", William Golding uses many different symbols. The book is about a group of young boys surviving on a remote island. In the story William Golding uses many different objects to show the boys' decent into savagery. Three symbols that he uses are a pair of specs, a killing of a sow, and also one of the oldest boys: Jack.

One of the symbols Golding uses, to show the boys' decent into savagery, is a pair of specs owned by a plumpish boy named Piggy. In the beginning of the story, when Piggy and Ralph get into a lagoon, Piggy explains how he cannot swim and "rose dripping from the water and stood naked, cleaning his glasses with a sock" (Golding 13).

In this scene the glasses, which stand for survival, are looking nice, in good working condition, and help Piggy see and survive on the island. The boys also use the specs to make a signal fire, which is the only hope they have for survival. Later on in the story Jack and Piggy get into an argument. Jack, getting mad, "smacked Piggy's head. Piggy's glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks" (71). Simon picks them up and states that they are broken. At this part of the story Piggy's specs are still usable but are in bad condition and hard to work with. Piggy has more trouble seeing and is having a harder time trying to survive due to his splintering headaches he gets because of looking through only one spec. Also now the...