Please give this a 1-9grade

Im writing my summer assignment and I dont have time to get a real good essay going so I wrote something quick but I still would like to get it graded by someone else before I turn it in. Sorry its so bad. Also, if you dont mind, any pointers would help me a lot.

William Golding’s novel, The Lord of the Flies, numerously uses symbolism to show the conflicts and feelings that the stranded boys seemed to go through. The smallest things could end up being a substantial part of the story. The symbols that the characters represented were especially important; it seemed that every character had a human characteristic that he could be associated with. Also, there were the inanimate symbols: the fire, the glasses, the war paint, and the conch, which always foreshadowed to coming events or changes that the boys would undergo.

In the beginning of the story, the characters almost map out exactly what they will represent on the island. Ralph, the symbol of courage and leader, without thinking jumps straight into the hot water; which Piggy would not ensuring that he would always have that superiority over him. Piggy represents conformity and intellect, while Jack and Roger represent the primal instincts in humans, and finally Simon represents the innocence or the lamb of humanity. Ralph and Jack together represent the battle that rages in people to do the civilized or the primal as they both debate on whom should have the position of leader within the boys. This is very significant when you place the relationship between Ralph and Piggy into the mix which is that Piggy is the brains that keep Ralph from being as primal as Jack. Roger is just a blood thirsty boy whom cares about nothing. And finally, the biblical reference to the killing of the lamb, Simon is sacrificed without having any of the sins that engulfed the others, but this was also different from the bible in that this did not signify a renewal, it signified the removal of innocence.

Next there is the symbol that the conch shell in the story represented. This idol was cherished because in the boys this item represented all power and order. Whoever held the conch shell had the floor; there were no interruptions while someone held the conch, and Ralph had the conch most often in the story which entitled him to have the most power throughout. Jack representing the force against order and intellectual thought challenged the power of the conch shell while held by Piggy by speaking. This act is foreshadowing to the defiance of order that was beginning to build up in Jack, which was caused by Ralph giving him power over the hunters (or showing a sign of weakness to his adversary).

Then we come to the symbol of the glasses. The glasses represent scientific power over technology. The glasses were the only way to start a fire on the island, but they were also the only way that Piggy could see. Without his glasses Piggy was the helplessness that the boys probably felt although it was hidden by the power that they had over each other. When both Piggy and the glasses are gone all intellectualism in the boys is destroyed and primal instinct is above all.

Finally, we end with the symbol of the signal fire. Throughout the story the fire was the hope brought on by the intellect of Piggy. Piggy was smart enough to make think of making a fire to signal for help, and this was their only hope of getting off the island. Jack and his hunter’s war paint is the symbol of their defiance against civilization. Their savagery completely destroys their hope dimming the fire and the light. This signifies that the boys do not even care about being rescued anymore they are focused on their first instinct which is to survive. Then Jack turns this dim light into a great fierce fire that destroys the forest. This is very ironic in that this savage fire is the one that finally gets a boats attention.

In conclusion, William Golding gives symbolic meaning to things that are ordinary things in the story. Making characters the personification of human emotions and instincts, and also, giving objects a powerful reverence to the boys makes this novel like the world of thoughts that the boys have while on the island. Their symbols become their reality.

Thanks in advance