Golding uses simile, pathetic fallacy, symbolism, and allusion to depict fear and evil among the boys on the island. Near the beginning of the story, the boys inadvertently set fire to a large swath of island when their bonfire gets out of control. As the boys come to the realization that at least one littlun was killed in the fire, Piggy goes into an asthmatic panic attack, and "the crowd was as silent as death."
This simile is followed by a pathetic fallacy and symbolism:
"Tall swathes of creepers rose for a moment into view, agonized, and went down again. The little boys screamed at them. "Snakes! Snakes! Look at the snakes!"
Giving the creepers emotion such as agony is a pathetic fallacy that voices the fear the boys have of the consuming fire. The allusion to snakes recalls the account of the Garden of Eden when the devil appeared in the form of a snake or serpent. This symbol foreshadows that the island is not a paradise; the boys are already beginning to turn it into a hell because of their innate evil.
When the evening meeting after the missed rescue from the passing ship deteriorates into talk of ghosts, Golding uses pathetic fallacy again: "Two grey trunks rubbed each other with an evil squeaking that no one had noticed by day." The fear the boys have is reflected in Golding's description of the sound of the trees.
The most prominent symbol of evil in the book is the pig's head on a stick, which becomes the Lord of the Flies during Simon's vision. When Simon first sees it, "the half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life. They assured Simon that everything was a bad business." The head's mocking tone and threatening manner personify evil.
Another symbol of fear and evil is the dead parachutist. Although, as Simon discovers, "the beast was harmless and horrible," it is the embodiment of the boys' fear and at the same time a representation of man's inhumanity to man, as the parachutist was shot down as part of the war that is engulfing the outside world. Golding has the rotting parachutist, freed from its bondage by Simon, float out to sea over the dead body of the recently murdered Christ-figure, combining allusion and symbolism. What could be more evil than killing an innocent man with their bare hands--a man who was only trying to share the good news?
Golding uses figurative language--including simile, pathetic fallacy, symbolism, and allusion--to portray fear and evil on the island.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
In Lord of the Flies, what are some good examples of figurative language that show themes such as Fear and Good vs Evil?
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