Lord of the Flies Allegory essays

Lord of the Flies Allegory essays Goldings Lord of the Flies has functioned as an allegory for many readers ever since it was first published in 1954. There are many different symbolic ways that you are able to interpret the story as an allegory. You could see the book as an allegory for the struggle between good and the evil in the world. The characters in the story fit and characterize many of the same aspects of society and also the symbolic nature of religion. The main allegory in this story is the struggle between good and evil. At the time that this novel was written the good was the democratic republic states such as Britain, The United States, and France. The evil was the fascist states of Nazi Germany and Mussolinis Italy. Ralph symbolizes the good democracy and democratic rule. Jack wanted power and finally when he received it he became a type of dictator. Golding himself named the theme of his novel, The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable.(Golding 204) This whole theme really helps scholars and readers of his book to see the apparent allegory behind the story. The boys are first left on the island by a plane crash where only the boys survive. The island itself is boat shaped with a jungle and plenty of fruit trees almost like the garden of Eden.(29) The island itself can be thought of a mini earth. No grownups!(8) Ralph shouts when they first realize that they are alone. One of the first pieces of symbolism that helps create the allegory is the conch. The conch is the symbol of order and also assembly. The boys decide that the conch will be used for these purposes.(17) The boys on the island start out with order and wanting to make a society li ...