What does the mirage symbolize in Lord of the Flies?

Answer 1

The mirage could symbolize trickery and false appearances.

You could compare it to the island itself, so that the mirage represents good things. The boys experience beautiful natural surroundings which some people say is like the garden of Eden (in The Bible).

However these "good" things are also dangerous, for example the fruit makes the boys vomit. Appearances can be deceptive and this applies to characters and democratic structure as well. Things that seem perfect can fall apart- like how the rules of the group never had any threats attached. This leads to revolt.

The island's beauty and perfection also show that the problems lie within the boys rather than other, external factors. In the story of Adam and eve, evil is represented by a snake, but by the end of LoF we discover there is no "snake thing".

The fire that destroys the forest is created by the group, and when the island was uninhabited it was perfect. So you might think the boys are kind of evil. Golding (who wrote the book) saw horrible, evil acts committed during WW2 by people. If people could do things like that then surely evil is internal?

The theme is continued with brother turning on brother (Samneric hit each other at one point). But that has very little to do with the mirage and false appearances.