Lord of the Flies Christian Symbolism
Lord of the Flies - Christian Symbolism“The truth about man is not merely that he is, by nature, savage and afraid, but that he refuses deliverance, and murders the messenger of light”(Dick, “Criticism” 197). This view of our nature as human beings is based on the teachings of the Christian doctrine of original sin, a theory that has been used as a theme in many works of literature. One of these is William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. Throughout the work, Golding conveys his faith in the theory of original sin through the use of vivid Christian symbolism. He takes his characters, a group of British schoolboys marooned during a futuristic nuclear war, and places them on a small island, establishing a microcosm in which the reader can study and analyze the regressive and savage behavior of mankind as he returns to his primitive state. As an author who is convinced of original sin, Golding shows the gradual effacement of societal values on the island, and the change of the boys from proper, innocent schoolboys, into young savages (Baker, “Essays” 17). Golding wrote the novel as a Christian allegory, and thus presented numerous Christian symbols including a Christ-figure, the clairvoyant Simon (Swisher 36). Through his novel Golding attempts to teach his reader a grim lesson about life and the darkness that lies within us all.
Lord of the Flies is said to “open in Eden,” because the perfect and untouched nature of the island upon the boys’ arrival is comparable to that of Adam and Eve’s garden of Eden (Swisher 65). Fruit hangs from all the trees, fresh water flows abundantly from the mountain, and the tropical climate prompts the boys to take off their clothes. They live free of all constraints of the modern adult world. Like Adam and Eve, the boys are not aware of the capacity for evil that lies within them. As upper-class British schoolboys, their initial reaction to being on the island is one of excitement at the absence of adults, as well as one of faith that they will be able to establish a civilized society like the one to which they are accustomed (Oldsey 29). It is shortly after the arrival that the “littluns,” the younger boys on the island, begin to complain about “snake things,” and become fearful (Meitcke 34). From this point on, fear is a major theme of the novel. The snakes succeed in instilling fear in the littluns and, shortly after, are destroyed in the fire. The disappearance of the snakes is analogous to the Devil tempting Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and once causing them to fall, disappearing from view and entering the heart of man (Dicken-Fuller 16). Once the stage is set, Golding shows the slow regression of the...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.