Lord of the Flies

In English class, we have begun and have gotten well into the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The novel revolves around a group of kids who are stranded on what appears to be an island post world war one, left to survive on their own as they formulate a form of society which slowly dwindles into madness. The characters each have their own trait, Piggy being the cautious and constantly worried character, Jack being the impulsive character with little thought of consequences, and Ralph being the balance and reason of the two. These characters correlate perfectly to the balance of superego,ego, and id, the three characteristics that make a person's personality. Each represent one of these traits, explaining their exaggerated nature at times.
     Symbolism proves itself to play a very strong role in conveying meaning and plot to this novel, as it is found in nearly every paragraph. From the forest, to shadows, to the characters and plot themselves, this novel is shown constantly to throw symbols with deeper meanings at all levels of understanding. This leads the novel to be perceived in a vast multitude of fashions, with some seeing basic symbols in a story of stranded boys and others finding a possible deeper meaning of human nature itself and the tendencies and darkness that shrouds society itself. This piece of literature has become a great favorite of mine and I look forward to reading deeper into this novel and enjoying what it has to offer.