Conch In Lord Of The Flies

In the year 1954, William Golding wrote an allegorical novel to parallel with World War II and the Cold War. In the novel, he displays a variety of themes that portray human activity that went on during the wars. Golding takes unexposed little boys and puts them in a situation where they have to fend for their lives, much like the soldiers that have to fend out in war. These soldiers were told what to do by the government and their political leaders. Some of these actions were organized, and some were a chaotic mess. This was due to a lack of leadership and sense of what would be for the better of the group. In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses political symbolism to illustrate that in order to maintain a civilization, there needs to be order

One symbol that stands for democracy is the conch. When the conch is found in chapter one, Piggy exclaims to Ralph that if he blows into it, the other boys will gather. The idea doe not fail. “The children gave him the same obedience that they had given to men with megaphones” (Golding 11). Ralph uses the conch to call many more meetings, but it loses meaning rapidly. As the boys’ discipline fades, the color of the conch also fades, thus showing the fade of order and structure. When the conch breaks at the end of chapter 11, all order is gone and complete chaos arises. Piggy’s glasses are another crucial political symbol in Lord of the Flies. The glasses represent technology as they relate to starting the fire, but since they belong to Piggy, they tend to represent intellectualism as well. Piggy is almost completely blind and is not able to do or see without his glasses. To run an effective government, the leader must be intelligent, or else he or she is not qualified to lead. The glasses serve as Piggy which is what Ralph needs to be the chief of the boys. Without him, Ralph cannot see his thoughts clearly enough to communicate them to the boys to make everything run smooth. The glasses can represent power as well. At the end of chatper 10, Jack and his hunters attack Ralph’s side of the island to retrieve Piggy’s glasses to make another fire. Once he takes them, Piggy will never end up getting them back, and Jack receives ultimate power. The fire is a symbol that serves as good and bad. The good in it is that fire means rescue. If the signal fire stays alive on top of the mountain, a ship will see and come to take the boys home. However, when fire is put in the hands of Jack, it symbolizes destruction and savagery. After the largest pig is killed, it is roasted over a fire for the boys to eat. This is the first real meal the boys have gotten after countless months of minute meals. The boys