key themes/points Flashcards
fire
symbolises the boys hope, of rescue and survial its needed to cook their food supply their heat and smoke for a rescue. ralph nearly burnt to death shows how too much false hope is as deadly as none at all. when jack takes glasses he takes their hope.
conch
symbolises civilisation/social conventions found at beginning just after boys crash, destroyed just after they deliberately murdered piggy so all traces of civilisation gone
glasses
symbolise the power on the island. piggy has the glasses but is too weak to take harge so supports ralph instead jack steals the glasses just after tribes split shows the transfer of power. the glasses are broken representing how the hunger for power can damage both individuals and relationships
lord of the flies/simon
symbolises the devil devil in hebrew=beezlebub literally translates as LOTF. simon =jesus, body washed away by the sea represents how all sins are washed away in christening, simon is shunned and viewed as weak by everyone like how jesus was disliked and killed by the romans. simon can hear LOTF whispers shows how the devil tried to influence jesus
the beastie
symbolises the boys potential for evil. it comes in the dark, a time often associated with evil, the boys are terrified of it until they become savages and their potential for evil is fufilled.
the war
takes place during WW2 boys predisposed to violence as raised in a society where soldiers are idolised and killing is romanticized to convince people to fight. war is cause for the entire situation as boys were being evacuated.
zimbado experiment
psychological study
college students put into prison/guard stimulation
knew it was fake but guards still became power hungry and abusive of their power. humiliated prisoners and were needlessly cruel, prisoners became submissive and resourceful to survive. it was supposed to last 14 days cancelled after 3 due to extreme violence from the guards. conclusion that people fill the roles they expect to find in the society, boys expected to find savages but there are none so they become the savages they expected to find
