Political/social Allegory in Lord of the Flies

Political/Societal Allegory in Lord of the Flies

The novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, can be interpreted as a political and societal allegory. Golding includes many aspects in the novel that can represent two contrasting political societies. Golding chooses to represent Ralph and Jack as leaders of the two political societies, in which he shows their two contrasting ways of ruling them.

Ralph can be viewed as the leader or president of the democratic society on the island, and he uses several tactics to attempt to stabilize the assembly of boys. For example, Ralph uses the conch shell to bring the boys together on the island for the first time and attempts to establish a set of rules, as well as list the group’s necessities. Ralph portrays himself as the leader immediately when he says, “We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here as down there. (Golding 42). This shows that once Ralph was elected leader, he instantly wants to compose rules for the entire island. Ralph claims that he knows what the most important needs on the island are, like fire as a signal and shelters to sleep in. One of Ralph’s most significant tactics to maintaining order is the use of the conch shell to call meetings in which he could give orders and discuss issues. Ralph tried his best to establish a democracy, which is shown when he says, “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking” (Golding 30). This illustrates the idea that Ralph wanted to give everyone a say in the decisions that were made on the island, although one person would have the authority if they had possession of the shell. He made the conch shell a significant part of the society, since he gave everyone a chance for their input and created order. The conch shell could represent freedom of speech and all the boys on the island could represent the House of Representatives. Another major part of Ralph’s society is Piggy, who can symbolize Ralph’s Vice President. On the island, Piggy represents intelligence because he believes that logic can be used over violence and physical strength. For example, Piggy voices his priorities when he feels it’s necessary and he usually agrees with Ralph, like when he says, “How can you expect