Lord of the Flies

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   ms-mcgregor Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   At the beginning of the novel, the jungle is a symbol for nature. At one end of the island, where the plane carrying the boys most likely crashed, there is a "long scar smashed into the jungle". Symbolically, this scar represents the destruction that man inflicts on nature. However, unlike many books, nature is not seen in a positive way, Golding also uses the jungle as symbol for death, decay, and darkness. In fact, since the jungle is the home of the beast, it, too, symbolizes the darkness naturally present within humans that is capable of ruling their lives. This evil eventually spreads to almost every boy on the island, just as in the jungle, "darkness poured out, submerging the ways between the trees till they were dim and strange as the bottom of the sea."

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/flies

   http://www.enotes.com/flies/summary-analysis

   http://www.enotes.com/flies/themes

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   Posted by ms-mcgregor on Monday September 22, 2008 at 4:22 PM
   
   

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