What are important examples of figurative language in Lord of the Flies?

Laurine Herzog

There isnt anyone to help you. Only me. And Im the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the
Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didnt you? Im part of you? Close,
close, close! Im the reason why its no go? Why things are the way they are?

In this first quotation, taken from chapter 8, the beast,
otherwise known as the , appears toin a vision and seems to threaten and taunt him. The beast,
however, is a symbol of the evil within all men. As it says, Im part of you. The beast
addresses Simon with several rhetorical questions. Aisnt supposed to be answered, but a
rhetorical question always puts into the listeners mind an implied answer. When the beast says
to Simon, You knew, didnt you? the implied answer is yes. Simon did know that the beast was
part of, or inside of himself. For much of the story, the boys on the island live in fear of the
beast. The fact that the beast is a symbol for the evil within us all suggests that the boys are
afraid only of one another.

The breaking of the
conch and the deaths ofand Simon lay over the island like a vapor. These painted savages would
go further and further.

This second quotation,
from chapter twelve, also uses symbolism, in this case in the form of the conch. In the novel
the conch symbolizes civilization, or at least the civilizing instinct. The boys use the conch
to bring order to their meetings, and to allow everybody a voice. When the conch is broken, this
symbolically represents the end of the civilized impulse on the island. This second quotation
also includes a smile, where the deaths of Piggy and Simon are said to hang over the island
like a vapour. Thissuggests that the pain and the immorality of these deaths is so
all-encompassing as to pervade the very air. It also connotes a sense of suffocation, implying
that the evil which has led to their deaths will, metaphorically, suffocate the remaining boys
on the island.

He looked in astonishment, no
longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. He spilt the water and leapt to his feet, laughing
excitedly . . . He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling. He capered
toward Bill, and the mask was a thing on its own, behind whichhid, liberated from shame and
self-consciousness.

In this third quotation,
from chapter 4, Jack sees his reflection in the water, having painted his face with charcoal.
When he looks at his reflection and sees, in his place, "an awesome stranger," this
vision foreshadows the drastic transformation that his character undergoes during the rest of
the story. Indeed, the person he is by the end of the story is arguably, in any sense that is
meaningful, a stranger to the person he is at the beginning. Also in this third quotation, the
animalistic language used to describe Jack ("bloodthirsty snarling") alludes to the
emergence of his animalistic, primal self.

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