Symbols from the Carousel

Symbols from the Carousel

The beast is easy enough: it represents evil and darkness. But does it represent internal darkness, the evil in all of our hearts, even lovely, British Ralph? Or does it represent an external savagery that civilization can save us from?

o The beast is different for different boys
o It is represented as the dead parachutist, snakes, the pig’s head and noises heard in the night.
o The real beast is our deep, dark primeval urges.
o The boys invent the beast as a fear for them to focus on rather than the darkness in themselves.

When the twins list off the horrible attributes of the creature they saw, they reveal that it has both "teeth" and "eyes"; Ralph and Jack see it as a giant ape. So perhaps the "beast" is a man-who-isn't, the animal side in all of us?

The imaginary beast that frightens all the boys stands for the instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings. The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. As the boys grow more savage, their belief in the beast grows stronger. By the end of the novel, the boys are leaving it sacrifices and treating it as a totemic god. The boys’ behaviour is what brings the beast into existence, so the more savagely the boys act, the more real the beast seems to become.

The Lord of the Flies, which is an offering to the mythical "beast" on the island, is increasingly invested with significance as a symbol of the dominance of savagery on the island, and of Jack's authority over the other boys. Symbolically, then, it is associated with Jack. The Lord of the Flies represents the unification of the boys under Jack's rule as motivated by fear of "outsiders": the beast and those who refuse to accept Jack's authority.

Piggy’s Glasses

Piggy’s glasses represent intelligence and clear thinking.
o They are useful for the boys to get the fire started both to attract rescuers and for cooking the meat.
o When one lens is smashed it represents the lack of clear thinking of the others.
o The glasses are completely destroyed when Piggy dies and this is Golding’s way of representing the further fall of the boys into chaos and darkness.

Piggy is the most intelligent, rational boy in the group, and his glasses represent the power of science and intellectual endeavor in society. This symbolic significance is clear from the start of the novel, when the boys use the lenses from Piggy’s glasses to focus the sunlight and start a fire. When Jack’s hunters raid Ralph’s camp and steal the glasses, the savages effectively take the power to make fire, leaving Ralph’s group helpless. We could also see that they represent how sightless they are in recognizing the breaking down of their society.

The Fire

The fire has good and bad uses.
o It is useful for attracting rescue, gives warmth and can be used for cooking, but it can be very destructive as we see at the end of the novel.
o Fire is used in ritual and is the backdrop to Simon’s frantic death.

The signal fire burns on the mountain, and later on the beach, to attract the notice of passing ships that might be able to rescue the boys. As a result, the signal fire becomes a barometer of the boys’ connection to civilization. In the early parts of the novel, the fact that the boys maintain the fire is a sign that they want to be rescued and return to society. When the fire burns low or goes out, we realize that the boys have lost sight of their desire to be rescued and have accepted their savage lives on the island. The signal fire thus functions as a kind of measurement of the strength of the civilized instinct remaining on the island. Ironically, at the end of the novel, a fire finally summons a ship to the island, but not the signal fire. Instead, it is the fire of savagery—the forest fire Jack’s gang starts as part of his quest to hunt and kill Ralph.

The Conch

Represents order.
o Colour changes to show a loss of innocence in the boys.
o Loses its importance as the novel progresses as Jack and his ‘Tribe’ take over.
o Smashed into a thousand pieces at the end to show loss of order and civilisation.

The rift between civilization and savagery is communicated through the novel's major symbols: the conch shell, which is associated with Ralph. The conch shell is a powerful marker of democratic order on the island, confirming both Ralph's leadership-determined by election-and the power of assembly among the boys. Yet, as the conflict between Ralph and Jack deepens, the conch shell loses symbolic importance. Jack declares that the conch is meaningless as a symbol of authority and order, and its decline in importance signals the decline of civilization on the island. The destruction of the conch shell at the scene of Piggy's murder signifies the complete eradication of civilization on the island, while Ralph's demolition of The Lord of the Flies-he intends to use the stick as a spear-signals his own descent into savagery and violence. By the final scene, savagery has completely displaced civilization as the prevailing system on the island.