There is no doubt about it, William Golding went a little overboard on symbolism in this book. Symbolism adds depth to the novel and creates a stronger meaning to every detail in the book. Symbolism is a tool that comes in handy when writing a novel. It gets boring and repetitive to repeat the same concept over again in a book to get your theme across. With objects that have a deeper meaning, it is easy to warp the theme and change the concept as the book progresses.

No Stress of Lack of Civilization 

The book starts off with symbolism in the first chapter, being the conch shell that symbolized the lack of civilization on the island. Without this shell, Ralph would not have been able to call their first meeting. The conch shell was held if you were talking during a meeting. Later on, in chapter 6, Jack chose to talk without the shell. This demonstrated how there was no longer civilization on the island and everyone was turning to savagery.

Signal Fire Linking to Hope

The signal fire directly correlated to how badly the boys wanted to be rescued. Although in the beginning they were excited to be on the island alone, they still desperately wanted to be rescued. The signal fire started off huge and as the days went on and the boys became less civilized, the fire started to be forgotten and it would always burn down low or go completely out. This represented their lack of hope and how they start to lose sight of their goal to get off of the island.

Beastie Bring Out Savagery

The imaginary beast in this novel brings out the savagery within the boys. As they become less civilized, the beast becomes more “real” and more of the boys start to believe in it. Without the beast, there would be no sense of fear and the dynamics of certain characters (ie. Jack wanting to display power) would be less prominent.