A Critical Analysis of Symbolism in Lord of the Flies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65405/zpwgzv19Keywords:
Lord of the Flies, William Golding, symbolism, literary analysisAbstract
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954) is one of the most symbolically significant works of twentieth-century British fiction. Written in the aftermath of the Second World War, the novel traces the gradual moral and social collapse of a group of schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited island. This paper examines Golding’s use of symbolism through Peirce’s triadic semiotic framework, focusing on the relationship between the sign, the object, and the interpretant. It analyses the conch shell, the signal fire, Piggy’s glasses, the beast, the mask, the Lord of the Flies, Simon, and the island as interconnected signs whose meanings change as the narrative develops. The analysis argues that these symbols do not function as isolated literary devices but as a dynamic system that reflects the boys’ movement from order to violence, from democratic speech to authoritarian control, and from innocence to moral awareness. The paper concludes that Golding’s symbolism reveals civilisation as fragile because it depends not only on institutions and rules, but also on the shared meanings and ethical commitments that sustain them.
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