The Color Metaphors and Their Portrayal in Lord of the Flies

In Sir William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the symbolic use of color conveys the innocence and the evil on the island, as nicely as every of the boys’ personalities. The contrasting light and dark colors in the book symbolize the goodness and evil, the lighter colors symbolizing the boys’ innocence and morals, the darker colors representing the darkness on the island and in the boys’ minds and hearts. The colour of the boy’s skin and hair also symbolizes their distinct personalities Ralph’s fair hair represented his calm character, even though Jack’s vibrant red hair represented his fiery and bloodthirsty personality.

All through the novel, there are many examples of light colors representing innocence and goodness among the boys. When Ralph and Piggy first learn the conch, it is described as being light in color: “In colour the shell was deep cream, touched right here and there with fading pink” (p. 11). The conch brought order and civilization by calling the boys together (p. 12), and by permitting the boy holding it a opportunity to speak without having interruption (p. 31). This civility brought guidelines and order which the boys abided by, and permitted them to demonstrate the goodness and morals that they had ahead of they crashed on the island. The naturally occurring lightness of the island also represented innocence and goodness, in distinct the yellow sun and white sand. When the sun was up, the boys lost their worry, as they believed that the beast disappeared in the daylight: “He says in the morning it turned into them factors like ropes in the trees and hung in the branches” (p. 35). The pale colors represent the goodness of the island, allowing the boys to really feel relief and safety when they had been displaying. One more example of this revolves about the chapter Beast from Water, as the white sand was what protected the boys from the water and the darkness. “The tide was coming in and there was only a narrow strip of firm beach between the water and the white, stumbling stuff near the palm terrace” (p. 81). This shows that as the fear and darkness of night neared, the white sand disappeared, taking with it the boys’ goodness and innocence.

The theme of savagery, evil, and darkness is a reoccurring element of Lord of the Flies, and are symbolized through the use of dark colors. The dark, blackness of every single night brought fear to each and every of the boys, as they believed the night was when the beast came. “He says the beastie came in the dark” (p. 35). When the darkness of evening was diminished by the lightness of the morning, the boy’s lost this fear. The adjust of colors that came with the alter of climate also symbolized the darkness and savagery that every single of the boys possessed. The starting of the chapter that Simon was murdered in started with “Over the island the create-up of clouds continued” (p. 160). It then stated “Colors drained from water and trees and pink surfaces of rock, and the white and brown clouds brooded” (p. 160). This shows that the lighter colors like blue, green and pink were drained, and that the darker colors such as brown started to kind, which symbolizes the lower of innocence and increase of savagery that was linked with the act that the boys have been about to commit. As the time got closer to the murder, the weather darkened and became blacker as a storm approached “There was a blink of vibrant light beyond the forest and the thunder exploded once more so that a littlun started to whine” (p. 167). Finally, the contrast in between the white colored smoke of the boys rescue symbol and the black smoke that was developed to kill Ralph is an example of the boy’s modify from innocence to evil. When the boys created their fire that was created to be a rescue signal, it was stated that “A billow of white and yellow smoke reeked up” (p. 179). At the deepest moment of the boys’ descent to savagery, they developed a fire to murder Ralph. This fire was distinct, and was described as black: “His voice rose below the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island…” (p. 224). The darkening of colour symbolizes the darkening of every single of the boys’ hearts.

The different colors of every single boy’s hair represented their diverse attributes and personalities. In the first line of the book, Ralph is described as having fair hair: “The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the final few feet of rock…” (p. 1). This is quite equivalent to his personality, as he proved himself to be fair, as he came up with the suggestion of utilizing the conch to permit each single boy the opportunity to speak (p. 31), innocent, as he showed many thoughts and attributes that proved he was only a young (p. 6), and possibly had the most goodness out of all of the boys, as he ended up getting the only boy on the island who wasn’t a savage. Jack, on the other hand, had vibrant red hair “Inside the floating cloak he was tall, thin and bony and his hair was red beneath the black cap” (p. 16). Red is also the color of blood, consequently symbolizing the bloodthirstiness of Jack, which can specifically be seen when he becomes obsessed with hunting (p. 74). It is also the colour of anger, and Jack proves himself to be very angry to the point exactly where he became violent and hit Piggy (p. 75). Ultimately, Roger had black hair, and despite the fact that it was not as clear as Jack, he possessed the identical evil and darkness. This can be proved when he intentionally killed Piggy by pulling the lever that released the bolder (p. 200), and by murdering Piggy, he proved himself to be the darkest of all of the boys on the island.

The different colors in Lord of the Flies are symbolic to the distinct personalities and attributes of each and every of the boys, and the different shades of colour represent the contrast of the goodness and darkness of the island and the boys. The dark colors represent the evilness of the boys, and is observed through the darkness of the evening sky, the bad weather, and the black smoke, and the light colors represent the goodness of the boys and the island, and is demonstrated via the creamy-white conch, the golden sun and the white sands that protected the boys from the fear of the beast. Color, for all these motives, proves to be an important and reoccurring theme in Sir William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.