READING GOLDING’S LORD OF THE FLIES AS A TEXT OF SOCIAL CRITICISM.

Archana Vijay
MA English (Cafeteria)
1st Semester
H00MAENG20200362
EFL University, Hyderabad

Abstract
Lord of the Flies, is a twentieth century dystopian coming-of-age novel. The story is set in

the background of a sinistrous abandoned island somewhere in middle of Pacific Ocean

during the time when the world is at war. It follows the journey of a group of British boys

from ages six to twelve stuck there without any adult supervision after a plane crash. This

didactic novel tells the story of true human nature and instincts as the boys go from being

civilized to savage as they adapt to the island life. This work is often considered as text of

social criticism and is praised for the brutally authentic way it does. In this article I will be

closely studying the novel and analysing the symbols the author has made use of to portray

the said social criticism.

INTRODUCTION
Sir William Gerald Golding was a British playwright, poet and novelist. He is best known for

his work Lord of the Flies, which is also his very first novel. This novel is set during a

fictional atomic war. The time period was inspired from Golding’s experience in serving with

the British Navy during the war. He was said wanting to portray how evil human nature can

be; unmoulded and at its extreme. Lord of the Flies takes us on staggering journey of a group

of English boys (6 to 12 year olds) crash landing on a deserted island somewhere in Pacific

Ocean while trying to get away from the war. There are no adults on the plane and pilot did

not survive the crash. Thus the boys are left to fend for themselves. And against this ominous
setting of a forbidden jungle we see the boys reverting to savagery while desperately trying to

govern themselves yet succumbing to their greed for power and hunger to survive.

This notion highlighted throughout the novel can also be presumed from the title itself. It was

Simon – one of the boys – who first uses this phrase ‘the Lord of the Flies’ (page 155) to

describe the severed pig’s head left by Jack, Henry, Robert, Bill, and Maurice for the beast.

Simon grossly describes the head covered with flies as ‘The pile of guts was a black blob of

flies that buzzed like a saw.’(Page 155). The whole conflict of the novel is the desire for

power, and the word Lord from title is used to depict power. While Flies can be associated

with decay and death. Thus in a way the title brings out the primitive violence the boys resort

to in their quest to quench their thirst for power.

The novel in itself is a social criticism of how even the ones who claimed to be the most

civilized can easily revert to committing barbaric – or primitive; to put it in a less harsher

manner- atrocities when a circumstance arises. Given that the world had already been through

World War II and with Golding first hand experiences while serving in the British Navy, he

has done absolute justice in capturing the confusion, the chaos and the easily exploitable

mind-sets of innocent people. People after witnessing events such as holocaust and the

nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had begun to question the very human nature and

purpose of civilization.

Golding who wanted to share this horrific he had to come in terms with after his time at

World War II, was inspired to write this novel and bring to light evil that lurks behind every

human mind – even those young, innocent but quite impressionable British boys- that feed

off from what the society teaches or fails to teach us. He brilliantly makes use of symbolism

to create the social criticism and at same time managing to authentically portray a world that
in is war with itself through the group of boys. The various symbols that Sir William Golding

has made use of will be discussed in detail in the coming paragraphs.

Symbolism in Lord of the Flies

Symbolism is a poetic/literary device used to represent meaning beyond an object’s (words)

literal (physical) sense. Symbolism in M.H Abrams’ Glossary of Literary Terms is described

as ‘a visionary mode of poetry’ (239). To quote Shelly one of the pioneers of symbolism: ‘I

always seek in what I see, the likeness of something beyond the present and tangible object.’

This literary device arose to popularity during the Romantic period, eventually paving way

for the symbolist movement.

In Lord of the Flies, Golding has made clever use of symbolism using various unassuming

yet strangely ominous things the boys use and find. Them being: the conch, the fire, the

glasses, the pig hunts, the pig head, clothes and Ralph’s hair.

1. The Conch

‘The conch’ is discovered by Ralph and Piggy two of the boys who found each other first

after the crash. The shell was found lying ‘among the ferny weeds’ (11) while they were

wandering across the shore of the Island in search of other survivors. Piggy knew what a

conch was having seen one in use before. So they decide to use it to call for others. This

conch is what helps Ralph get elected over Jack as the chief. And later on the group agrees

use it call for meetings. They also impose a rule among themselves stating that no can speak

unless he is holding the conch. It stood for order, civilization and power. Every boy of the

group revers it.

But soon enough they come to realization that power the conch holds is fake. It is just a tool

like the flags, emblems and crowns. Tools for showing off the power; no more meaningful

than the shell Piggy and Ralph finds lying around. They are material things easily
destroyable. How brutally and quickly Roger kills Piggy and breaks the conch by pushing a

rock over the cliff knowing that Piggy was standing below. The so called power – law and

order – associated with conch drove them all mad with greed. Yet the thing laws or rules are

only powerful when people agree on and follow them. Ralph had realized it. Hence when it

started going haywire, he refused to blow the conch, stubbornly holding the sense of power

together: ‘If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep

the fire going. We‘ll be like animals. We’ll be never rescued.’

2. The Fire

The fire throughout the whole novel is a symbol of hope; the signal fire that the boy agreed

to keep lit was in hopes of getting rescued in case any ship passes by. But paradoxically the

fire becomes destructive when a signal fire spreads out of control and kills a boy. In the end

it is used by Jack as weapon of violence as he uses it hunt and kill Ralph.

3. The Glasses

The glasses was the one remaining symbol of innovation and discovery; and in a way their

only link to civilization. They used to start the fires. It also stood for clear vision, which is

sight; one Piggy’s most useful attributes. It stood for his knowledge; and he saw and knew

things the other boys did not. Piggy was useless to them without it. The glasses held the fine

thread of civilization the boys were barely holding on to. They fight over it, Piggy gets

killed, the glasses broken and misused. This shows us how far from being civilized the boys

had gone.

4. The Pig Hunt

These scenes unflinchingly shows us their path towards savagery and permittivity. The

bloodlust and excitement the boys show while killing the animal terrifyingly portrays man’s

capacity for destruction and violence. Even after the hunt is over, the boy act out over and
over sort of like a ritual. It was during one of those sessions a boy named Simon gets killed

by the mob of those excited boys.

5. The Pig’s Head

The pig’s head swarmed by a ‘black blob of flies’, which Simon names ‘the Lord of the Flies’

represents the power they find in death and decay; like winning a blood-filled war. The flies

stands for the war’s aftermath.

6. The Clothes

Clothes were another link the boys had to the civilized before the glasses. In the beginning

they wore it to avoid getting sun-burned; also sticking to what they had been taught

according societal norms. But soon enough as they moved farther away from being civilized,

they got rid of it. They ran around in their naked or in their loin clothes adapting to savage

life in the Island.

7. The Body Paint

Jack’s use of body paint to hunt was used as a camouflage to fool the prey and in a way also

the boys. This marked a significant change in him. He was no longer the ‘choir-boy’ Jack.

The Jack was savage; someone who would do anything to become the chief. After Jack

doused himself in body paint, the rest of the boys who were on his side followed. Creating a

visible divide in the group.

8. Ralph’s Hair

The opening lines of the novel is Golding/narrator introducing Ralph: ‘The boy with the fair

hair lowered himself down’ (1). Ralph with his well-groomed hair and good looks can be

described as natural born leader. He is one of the last remaining boys to become completely

savage. The wayward growth of his once well-groomed hair has been described or noted in
one way or the other by the author. Thus one can safely assume that Ralphs growing hair

chapter after chapter show just how far from being a complete savage he was.

9. The Scars

There are many instances from the very beginning of the novel, where author has used the

word ‘scar’ or synonyms to describe what was happening around the boys. This can be taken

as signs of destruction already happening and also the one waiting to happen. The site of the

plane crash is repeatedly described as the ‘scar’ the plane left in the greenery. The boys leave

‘gashes’ in the trees as they make their way through the Island. The lightning and thunder are

described as a ‘blue-white scar’ and ‘the blow of a gigantic whip’ respectively. The water

boys bathe in is said to be ‘warmer than blood’

Conclusion

When this work was first published, it was received both positive and negative critical

acclaim. Some admired its unflinching and gross but accurate descriptions of violence that

man was capable of. Lord of the Flies is a brutally honest symbolic representation of the

world during World War II and its immediate aftermath inspired from what Golding himself

had seen and experienced while serving in the war. The work shone light upon the defects of

the society and how little power it held over people during those times and maybe even now,

in reality. This is clearly shown through the various symbols analysed above. The novel

clearly points out how easy it is to succumb to savagery and violence amidst chaos. It was

what happened in its extreme during the world war. And it is what happened as we witnessed

mobs resorting to violence both at the Capitol Hill incident at the United States and here

during Farmer’s Parade on republic day. There are some aspects to novel that will not

resonate in the present scenario. People have become more aware and many knows of the

power they hold as an individual and how wield in a way that benefits everyone.
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Abrams, M.H and Geoffrey Harpham. Glossary of Literary Terms. 11. CENGAGE Leaning, 2015.

Burgess, Adam. "Lord of the Flies: A Critical History." n.d. ThoughtCo. <thoughtco.com/lord-of-the-
flies-critical-history-4042902.>.

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Faber and Faber Limited, 1999.

Nayar, Pramod K. "Literature of the Modern Age." A Short History of English Literature. Foundation,

2009.