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Theme of Hope in  Lord of the Flies

 In the Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the theme of hope shines throughout the book. As a society we all need rules to help keep people in line. Ralph and Jack are both natural born leaders in the book Lord of the Flies. They use rules to help keep the children in line. In the beginning of the novel it is Ralph who keeps hope going for everyone else. Ralph explains to Piggy early in the book that his dad will come and rescue them. The theme of hope is very important because it keeps the children motivated to keep going. A conch shell and a fire signify Ralph’s leadership. The fire represents hope of eventual rescue. The fire symbolizes order, hope and survival. When the fire goes out it is Jack's fault. When the children start to lose hope they turn to Jack for leadership. Jack represents survival, not hope.  Late in the novel Simon tells Ralph to keep faith that they will be rescued. Simon represents faith and hope by the end of the book.  Simon represents human goodness. Simon is  reguarded as the Christ figure because he commits many selfless acts just like Jesus Christ did. Simon chooses to stay and help Ralph build huts rather than go play with the other boys on the island. Simons character lives by a moral code as opposed to many of the other boys in the book. As the fire goes out it signifies their lost faith. In the quote by J.B. Priestly the desolation started creeping. Golding’s writing makes the reader more and more scared for the well being of the boy’s souls on the island. As a reader you begin to wonder if they have gone too far into being savages to ever recover their moral compass. Piggy’s death was the hardest blow to order on the island. He was murdered and nobody’s soul recovers from that. If the boys expect to remain alive they will need to work together to get off the island. If the children had worked together, in faith that rescue would come, they would have been better off. The boys allowed desolation to start creeping in and they lost faith.