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Literary Devices in Lord of The Flies

The document discusses various literary devices used in William Golding's novel "Lord of the Flies". It describes allegory, irony, imagery, metaphor, simile, personification, allusion, ambiguity, repetition, metonymy, apostrophe, contrast, asyndeton, polysyndeton, hyperbole, verisimilitude, synecdoche, and symbolism. Specific examples are provided to illustrate how each device is employed in the novel.

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Noor Ul Ain
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4K views4 pages

Literary Devices in Lord of The Flies

The document discusses various literary devices used in William Golding's novel "Lord of the Flies". It describes allegory, irony, imagery, metaphor, simile, personification, allusion, ambiguity, repetition, metonymy, apostrophe, contrast, asyndeton, polysyndeton, hyperbole, verisimilitude, synecdoche, and symbolism. Specific examples are provided to illustrate how each device is employed in the novel.

Uploaded by

Noor Ul Ain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Literary Devices

Allegory
Allegory is a figure of speech in which abstract ideas and principles are described in terms of
characters, figures, and events. The main allegory for Lord of the Flies is the boys as a whole
can represent humanity as a whole. You can see where the pieces fall from there; the island is
then the entire world, the boys’ rules become the world’s varying governments, two tribes are
two countries, and so on. The boys’ fighting is then equivalent to a war. The only time we pull
out of the allegory is at the very end of the novel, when the other “real” world breaks through
the imaginary barrier around the island. 

Irony
There are several cases of irony in this book. Usually, the meaning is straightforward. Some of
these are:
 British boys should have represented the height of civilization yet they turn into
“savages”.
 Piggy is an important character yet we never find out his name. He is mocked despite
being the smartest boy on the island.
 Simon is a Christ figure. He knows the truth of the pilot. He comes down the mountain
to save the boys yet is mistaken as the beast and killed.
 It is ironic that they are saved by destroying themselves (light their island on fire).
 Jack originally uses the face paint to conceal himself while hunting, but in the end, the
face paint only reveals the boys' true nature.

Imagery
Imagery is used to depict the scenery and the setting. As what occurs in passage one where
Golding’s said,
“There was a strip of weed-strewn beach that was almost as firm as a road. A kind of glamour
was spread over them and the scene and they were conscious of the glamour and made happy
by it”.
I think Golding want to put us in a wide imagination to discover the fascinating island and the
kind of greenery or plants it have. That beauty makes the boys glad.

Metaphor
Golding makes a huge use of metaphors. For example: The “drum-roll” of fire (chapter 2),
“great, bulging towers” which are clouds (ch8), the “well” of sleep (chapter 12), “incantation of
hatred” for the tribe’s booing (Castle Rock) and “booming cannon” for the typhoon (Gift For
The Darkness) are just a few of hundreds of well-placed metaphors in the novel.
Simile
Simile is the most frequently used linguistic device in Lord of the Flies. Golding makes use of
this device to describe his characters and his fictional places in the novel. His description of
Ralph as an instance of the use of simile: “Ralph lolled in the water. Sleep enveloped him like
the swathing mirages that were wrestling with the brilliance of the lagoon.” (LF: 9). Analyzing
the syntactic structure of this simile, the tenor (T) is “Ralph”, the vehicle (V) is “the swathing
mirages”, the ground (G) is “enveloping”, the simile marker (SM) is “like” and the topic (Tp) is “a
portrayal of Ralph”.

Personification
It is the art of giving human qualities to inanimate objects. Golding employs personification.
Especially through The conversation that was between the pig’s head and Simon. The head is
personified and given ability to speak to Simon. While it is dead, it is proud in its speech.

Allusion
Golding also used numerous allusions in his novel. From the beginning before reading we
remark that the title itself is an allusion to the Bible, because “The Lord of the Flies” was a title
that is given to Beelzebub. Moreover Simon’s name is also an allusion to the disciple or the
most believable follower Simon Peter.

Ambiguity
Ambiguity occurs when something is open to more than one interpretation. The author makes
it uncertain to us that the story has an underlying meaning about the religious story of Jesus
Christ, but if you pay attention to small details and want to learn about the true meaning of the
novel a whole new door opens.

Repetition
Golding is fond of repetition. The first chapter of Lord of the Flies provides many instances of
the use of repetition. The word “breezes” is, for example, repeated several times in the opening
paragraph of the novel to refer to the description of landscapes and nature. The following is
typical of his style of portrayal:
“Here and there, little breezes crept over the polished waters beneath the haze of heat. When
these breezes reached the platform the……..”

Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by the name of
something closely associated with that thing or concept. In Chapter 8 the boys are referred to
as the circle since they have assembled several times and sit in a circle. Also, as a group, their
feelings of fear are in unison:  They shiver all together--hence, "the circle shivered."
Apostrophe
It is speaking directly to someone who is not present or is dead, or speaks to an inanimate
object. The talking of Simon with the pig’s head is the example of such device.

Contrast
Contrast is a rhetorical device through which writers identify differences between two subjects,
places, persons, things, or ideas. In the novel there is a contrast between good (Ralph, Piggy,
Simon) against evil (Jack, Lord of the Flies, Beast). Between these characters is where we find
our contrast because for one character there is an opposite like Jack and Ralph, Simon and Lord
of the Flies etc.

Asyndeton
It is a literary device in which conjunctions (and, or, but, nor) are omitted; and it creates
emphasis.
“We saw no houses, no smoke, no footprints, no boats, no people.”

Polysyndeton
It is a literary device in which conjunctions are used where they might have been omitted to
create emphasis.
“Here the beach was interrupted abruptly by the square motif of the landscape; a great
platform of pink granite thrust up uncompromisingly through the forest and terrace and sand
and lagoon to make a jetty four feet high.”

Hyperbole
It is the exaggeration of ideas for the sake of emphasis and it creates contrast between what is
ordinary and exceptional.
“They walked along, two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate.”

Verisimilitude
It is the extent to which the literary text is believable, or the extent to which it imitates life. It is
resemblance of real event in fiction; sensory detail helps create sense of reality.
“The droppings were war. They piled among turned earth. They were olive green, smooth and
steamed a little.”

Synecdoche
A literary device in which a part of something represents the whole or the whole of something
is used to represent a part.
“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 which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-
consciousness.”

Symbolism
Golding uses a lot of symbolism in ‟Lord of the Flies”. The whole book is symbolic of the nature
of man and the nature of society.

• Conch: authority; order; power


• Signal fire: hope for rescue
• Piggy’s glasses: hope for rescue, technology, human intelligence
• Island: adventure, paradise
• Beast: danger/evil
• Ralph: authority; law and order
• Piggy: reason; human intelligence; adult world
• Jack: savagery; anarchy; violence
• Simon: kindness; compassion; nature

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