Lord of the Flies

The Struggle Between Savagery and Civilization In the book “Lord of the Flies”, the author uses many symbols to convey meaning. However, they all tie into two concepts that run parallel during the book: civilization and savagery. The two conflicting ideas are battling, with a result foreshadowed from the beginning of the book. Savagery and human evil wins. However, during the book, the meaning of the symbols representing civilization and chaos change. The first, Piggy’…

…book the ideas represented by the beast – evil and savagery – are all that mattered to the boys. In that way the glasses and the beast were symbolic of the main idea of the book: the evil that is within every person’s heart. The fact that the beast took over without the constraints of civilization was very significant. The corresponding loss of civilization was equally significant. It reveals information about humanity and our inner nature.