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Conch Shell In Lord Of The Flies Symbolism Essay

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The Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, is a story that has multiple symbolic objects throughout the book. Although the meaning or purpose of the symbols may not seem prominent, they play an important role in this story. Without these objects and their purpose, this story would lose a lot of its meaning. One symbol that provides significance and symbolism to this story is the conch shell. This shell represents safeness, authority, and crumple of power. First, the conch shell in this story represents safety. When the boys crash on the island, they are all separated and do not know where the other boys are at. Ralph and Piggy are the first to find each other after they are stranded on the island. While trying to determine where they are, Ralph goes swimming in a pool and spots the shell; Piggy immediately had an idea. Piggy tells Ralph to blow the shell to signal the other boys on the island of their whereabouts. “Ralph grasped the idea and hit the shell with air from his diaphragm (Golding 17).” Here the shell is being used to signal safety for the others. The booming sound lets the other boys know they are not alone on the island. It proves to work because the book states, “A child appeared among the palms, about a hundred yards along the beach. He was a boy of perhaps six years, sturdy and fair, his cloths torn, his face covered …show more content…

This brought about after the boys have elected leaders of the group. “Ralph smiled and held up the conch for silence. ‘Listen, everybody. I’ve got to have time to think things out.’ (Golding 23).” In this part of the story, Ralph exhibits his authority over the boys by lifting the shell to summon the others to be quiet. When the boys are silent, it shows they recognize Ralph’s authority over them. Ralph also has authority because the shell he possesses was the device used to gather all the boys on the beach. The boys now associate authority and power with Ralph and his

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Lord of the Flies                                                                    Brianna Poole Symbols are used in everyday life. Symbols such as a conch represent and explain different meanings. Writers use symbols such as this to help readers understand what is taking place in a story without describing it in words. In terms of this Golding uses the conch in the Lord of the Flies as a symbol of power and order to prove civilization is essential in the battle of evil.

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The conch shell is used and obtained as a method to maintain order on the island despite the other boy’s rejection and retrogression into a savage-like behavior. Discovered by Piggy on the beach when he first meets Ralph, the boys use the shell to call all of the boys on the island to the beach and with it establish rules that they expect the boys to follow until the time of their rescue. Ralph is the one who cherishes the conch the most and the idea of orderly control that is held behind it. He automatically takes upon the leadership role given to him by the other boys in the group. Along by his side he takes upon Piggy, his righthand man,who becomes the moral compass and rational thought for all the boys on the island.

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In the beginning of the novel, Piggy spots a conch shell on the beach. Aiming to gather all the boys on the island, Ralph picks the conch up and blows it to send a signal out. Instinctively, the boys, who are lost after crash-landing on the island, head towards the sound and form a meeting. After all the boys have gathered on the beach, they call an assembly, in which Ralph is elected as leader. He then declares that the only person who has permission to talk is the one holding the conch shell.

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This was the origin of Piggy's innovation with ideas on how to save the boys and help them survive on the island. Piggy and Ralph find the conch shell while they are walking along the beach. Even though Ralph found

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The conch shell is first found by Piggy and Ralph who use it to call for survivors. The shell is then established as a symbol of democracy, as found in this quote, “... I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking,” (33). Allowing each boy to speak when in possession of the conch shows that, although Ralph is chief, all boys can have a say in the rulings of the island. This democratic system is a beginning representation of our world in which everyone knows their place and there is overall peace.

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Symbolism of the Conch in Lord of the Flies by William Golding represents civilization. The novel Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys from England who have been stranded on an island after an airplane crash. They are expected to fend for themselves and are slowly reverting back to their primal savage ways. The group is quickly split into two a savage side and a rational, civilized side. Throughout the novel a key symbol was the conch.

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The conch shell plays a big part in Ralph’s authority and order. His leadership skills, along with the conch by his side, is what made the other kids on the island listen and idolize him. Golding glorifies the power of Ralph and his conch shell in order to represent control, which is important to the ongoing order and regulation of the boys throughout their time on the island. Without the shell, there would be no order among the lives of the boys on the uninhabited island. In addition to Ralph promoting the power of the conch, Jack also agrees and emphasizes that in order to run a society, there must be a strong and rational set of rules that needs to be followed.

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The conch shell represents rule of law and civilization on the island. The breaking of the shell represents the breakdown of civilization. Fire represents hope of being rescued. It also threatens destruction if it gets out of control.

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In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the conch is a primary symbol, which represents civility and order. Throughout the book it served as a power tool that the boys highly respected, in fact, the symbolism of the conch begins before it is even blown. Ralph is the one who originally discovers and posses the shell, but it’s Piggy who explains it’s significance. Piggy has to teach Ralph how to blow it; this shows how from the beginning the conch is linked with both Piggy and Ralph.

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The conch and the sow’s head both wield a specific type of power over the juvenile boys in Lord of the Flies. The conch, used to call assemblies, represents progress and civilization while the sow’s head represents terror, barbarity, and malevolence and is partly to blame for Simon’s demise. Lord of the Flies is a novel about power because throughout the book Jack and Ralph quarrel over who should be the chieftain of the children and the novel uses the conch and the sow’s head to represent divergent forms of power and authority. Also, the book shows the reader the power of symbols such as the conch and the pig’s head and even the island that the children remain inevitably imprisoned on until their liberation at the conclusion of the novel. Just about everything within this novel is a representation of something that is considerably greater.

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Piggy had the idea that if they used the shell to maybe call for others, if there were others. Ralph makes several efforts before an uplifting sound came out of the shell. Soon other boys came out of the woods. They were of the same age or younger and they were also naked too. While Ralph kept blowing the conch, Piggy tired to learn everyone's name who was there, as of then there were Johnny and a pair of twins named Eric and Sam.

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This is an example of how the conch symbolizes the rules within the boys society because the conch is what tells when the boys when they can talk. The rules created by the conch is what led to a lot of the boys disagreements which slowly drove them to become¨beasts¨. Overall the conch is the most symbolic piece in Lord of the Flies because it symbolizes the boys rules, their civilization, and power over the boys. This is important to the theme of the story because the conch helps the boys realize that they are the beast all along. The conch helps the boys to notice this because when it breaks they realize it was controlling them all along and making them the

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Ralph uses the shell to congregate all of the boys on to island and hold a meeting. At the meeting the boys figure out a logical way of surviving on the island. (16) They also use the shell as a sensible way to run the meetings. The boys take turns talking by holding the conch.

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Ralph is first introduced as the fair boy who is a natural born leader. He applies Piggy’s intelligence to think of a way to summon the other survivors on the island. Ralph follows through with Piggy’s idea and uses the conch which emits a loud sound that can be hear through the island. The sound eventually lures the group of boys towards them. His leader instincts are best portrayed when he’s able to side with Jack after offering to share his power: “The suffusion drained away from Jack’s face.

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