"Let's Agree to Disagree" LoTF Essay, David Roberts

Many symbols exist in society that prove this exact point. Human creations like religion and cults use symbols to accompany their beliefs, which often become focal points in their worship. Looking at the most popular religion of Christianity, the cross that is most often thought of when thinking of this religion brings many a people together under it. Christians worship God as well as this cross and honor it as a token to their religion. Christians seem to be united under this symbol. On the other hand, those who disagree with this worldview, have come to disrespect or even hate this symbol. It symbolizes something they believe to be false and therefore are united with others who also disagree. These two unified groups of Christians and non Christians are divided in their beliefs. The cross brings those who respect and those who disrespect it together with those who share their beliefs, while simultaneously dividing those two groups of people.

Not only does religion show the power of symbols. As demonstrated in the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, symbols also play a role in an imaginary society. In the book, a group of boys is stranded on an island. They start out as one group, but after two leaders emerge, Ralph and Jack, the one encompassing group is broken into two. After Jack’s crew and Ralph’s crew split, Piggy, who is Ralph's advisor, discusses the idea of taking the conch to Jack, with the hope that Jack will release his possession of Piggy’s glasses. “You let me carry the conch, Ralph. I’ll show him the one thing he hasn’t got (171).” The conch has become a very powerful symbol. It was used in the beginning to show leadership and authority, and therefore Piggy has the idea to use the conch to show Jack “what’s what.” Piggy’s original plans involve retrieving his glasses from Jack, and Piggy wants to use the conch to show that he is more powerful and people should obey him, and therefore giving him a greater chance of obtaining his glasses. The fact that Piggy then takes the conch, “with pride,” confirms the idea that whoever has the conch is to be respected. However, when confronting Jack with the conch, Jack’s crew started to throw stones at Piggy and the conch. Looking at this whole event, we can see that, while bringing Piggy, and his friends together against Jack and his group, the conch divided Piggy’s crew from Jack and his crew.

This is not the only example that is presented in the book. Earlier, when the two groups were in their early stages of separation, someone reported the sighting of a beast within the forest. Now, one company took this report as a serious threat, and everyone within it began to fear this beast, even though there was no confirmation. The other gang wasn’t so sure of this report. “Well then—I’ve been all over this island. By myself. If there were a beast I’d have seen it. Be frightened because you’re like that—but there is no beast in the forest (83).” Half of the boys believed this report, and half of them rejected it. This beast goes on to become a symbol of fear in the boys makeshift society. As time goes on, most of the boys adapted to view this theory as truth. There are still a few boys that didn't believe this beast to be true. Simon, one of Ralph’s band, is one of those boys. "I'll go if you like. I don't mind, honestly. (117)" Simon still believes this beast to be fictional, and shows this when he volunteers to go into the forest for the rest of the boys. After this event, and others like it, Ralph’s club starts to doubt this beast’s existence. Jack’s party remains in their beliefs that this beast’s presence is no lie. This beast figure has become a symbol that has unified the boys, but, at the same time, divided them in their view on its reality.

Shifting the view away from that of the fictional world, another non fictional symbol fits this puzzle. Pepe the Frog, or just Pepe, after being taken from the comic series Boy’s Club by Matt Furie, has blown up as a popular internet meme. After the internet enjoyed these memes for a time, Pepe started to be hated. Pepe was taken out of proportion and now remains in the Anti-Defamation League’s list of hate symbols. Pepe the Frog has become a symbol for those of the white supremacy group. As with every symbol, there are people who agree with it and disagree with it. In this way, those who are with this white supremacy group respect this symbol, and those who are against it loath it for what it stands for. Those groups of people are, while unified with others in their point of view, are divided from the other side because of their different beliefs.

Symbols can play many roles in society, one of them being their unifying qualities. Many symbols often stand for something like a religion or an idea. Those who use this symbol to show their own views will respect and honor their created symbol. Those who decide that this symbol contains no truth or disagree with what it stands for, have no respect or care for this symbol. Therefore, symbols that stand for something in society, both unify those who agree with it and disagree with it, but yet divides those two groups in their beliefs on the subject.

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