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Lord Of The Flies, By William Golding

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Since the beginning of time, civilization has conflicted with humans' natural instinct to be savage. In the book, “Lord of the Flies,” William Golding illustrates this conflict within a group of school boys who are stranded on an island. Due to war, a plane containing a group of young boys is struck down onto an uninhabited island. While at first this seems like a tropical getaway, the need for civilization and order starts to influence the boys. The elected leader, Ralph, sets expectations for them and creates a talking system with the conch. Certain boys such as Piggy abide by the rules, but they are mostly dismissed by the group, and chaos begins to break out without the organization Ralph had enforced. Ralph tries to create a signal fire …show more content…

Golding shows us civilization through characters like Piggy, but then counters with Jack's savage and rebellious mindset. Even though the boys do not respect Piggy, he always follows Ralph's rules. Piggy shows a leader mentality by assuring the boys that there is no beast, as well as acknowledging the importance of the signal fire. He is persistent with the rules even when things start to fall apart, and expresses how important civilization is when there are conflicts. When the feud between Ralph and Jack is reaching its peak, Piggy shows his commitment to the conch. “Piggy sought in his mind for words to convey his passionate willingness to carry the conch against all odds.” (Golding 172) Piggy's willingness to carry the conch shows how he wants to maintain the civilization in a serious situation. After everything that has happened, Piggy still values the conch and looks up to it. It also highlights Piggy's role as a moral compass and voice of reason on the island, as he is inclined to stand up for what he believes …show more content…

“Then I’ll give him the conch. . . . I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak to. He can hold it when he’s speaking.” (Golding 33) The boys make a connection between civilization by creating a system with the conch. It gives them a sense of security, because they can all speak their mind and all have opinions. The conch shows democracy, seeing that it gives all a chance to be heard. It shows Ralph's first move as a leader, and his problem solving skills and ability to make use of their limited resources on the island. Yet, the conch is destroyed by the boy's savage nature. The rocks represent savagery when they shatter the conch and kill Piggy, and ultimately get rid of the only sense of civilization that the boys had. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea.” (Golding 181) When the rocks shatter the conch and kill Piggy, it represents all civilization being gone. The rocks shatter all sense of

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But some boys who would hold the conch did not get the authority to speak, and that symbolized how such a governed civilization can go downhill quickly. Throughout the novel, the conch symbolizes democracy but when it breaks it symbolizes destruction. The conch represented a democracy, and the boys were of order during the time it was in use. At the start of the story, Ralph and Piggy found the conch.

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Ralph states about the conch, “‘I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking’” (Golding 33). In the beginning of the book, the conch symbolizes government and power. Ralph states that the conch will give the right of a person to talk which shows how the conch is keeping order around for the boys like a government.

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Nearing the end of the book, when Jacks tribe raids ralph for Piggy’s glasses, Piggy runs for the conch and protects it while their being attacked. This shows just how much the conch matters to Piggy and being an adult- like person, it makes the island feel like

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The first quote that shows us how important the Conch is when Piggy and Ralph used the conch to call the other boys when they taught they were alone on the island, “The conch, we can use this to call others. Have a meeting, they’ll come when they hear us (p. 16)” .We also do see how the boys are attracted to the conch like a magnet and quickly goes to the person who blows the conch, “By the time Ralph had finish blowing the Conch, the platform was crowded (p. 32)” .Besides that, the Conch also is an idea of civilization, rules and law.

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The conch symbolizes the role of leadership showing they have some source of civilization, once the conch is broken a descent into savagery leads to a dangerous turn for the boys. The one thing that the boys all had that could bring them together was the conch. “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.” Ralph says and later on says “We’ll have rules!”

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Why? “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.” (Golding 181) In chapter 11 the conch shatters and Piggy is run over by a rock. These events symbolize all hopes of civilization ending.

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Have you ever thought about how Indigenous kids developed dual identities at residential schools around Canada? And how they dealt with it? Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese follows protagonist Saul as he uses his remarkable talent for ice hockey to escape his traumatic residential school experience (Young 2019). The novel demonstrates that although Saul presented happiness and joy during hockey, it could be argued against as he was sexually abused and experienced dual identity at residential school.

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The conch symbolizes the authority held within the group, keeping in mind that whoever has possession is responsible for speaking. Likewise, Golding demonstrates how authority only has power when society agrees that it does, “They looked at him with eyes that lacked interest in what they saw...” (44). The boys seem to give Piggy no type of attention when he expresses his thoughts and point of view on how to improve their lifestyle on the island. Despite the fact that Piggy is very smart, the others just notice his weight and insecurities which they often take advantage of.

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Ralph blowing in the conch to call a meeting alerted the other boys and caused them to gather together on the island. By showing this early in the book, the conche can show that Ralph would possibly be the leader in the group considering he was the first boy who took authority, gathering everyone together by calling the meeting. The conche is more than just a shell because if Piggy and Ralph did not find the conche, they would not have called the meeting and met all the other boys. The fire is another important symbol in the story because it is a symbol of life and death. The fire can be seen as a symbol of life because it is used to cook food and provide warmth throughout the

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"Piggy glanced nervously into hell and cradled the conch," (Goulding 44). The conch symbolizes government, order and most importantly civilization. When Piggy first finds the conch, Ralph takes it. This is significant because this early on represents him vying for his spot as leader. One by one, at civilized group meetings the boys take turns holding the conch and stating their opinions.

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The significance of the conch shell is first mentioned in the story as a symbol of law and order. In Chapter 2, Ralph blows the conch to summon the other boys back to the assembly and reports the findings of the excursion. Jack interrupts almost quickly to emphasize the need for an army for pig hunting. Ralph institutes, “‘ Another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once.

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Realizing Ralph's reliance on the fire and in otherways Piggy, Piggy begins to trust Ralph to protect him from Jack. His insecurities cause him to obsess over the idea of the fire to show that he does have some importance, while the savages are focused on power and hunting. Golding uses the struggle of power to demonstrate how destructive it can be. The desire for power causes the boys' civilization the crumble, discord and rivalries, and ends up destroying their island.

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People have grown accustomed to live in a civilized environment, where people follow rules and be humane. Although people have grown accustomed to this type of living it is easy to become uncivilized and savage when some aspects of civilized life are gone. In William Golding’s novel the Lord of the Flies the struggle between civilization and savagery can be seen through the symbols in the novel. In the novel the conch shell symbolizes civilization and order, which over time becomes increasingly fragile until it is destroyed. The conch reinforces the theme of this novel which is how the rules of civilization is engulfed by the human impulse toward savagery.

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The conch is an important symbol because it helps the boys stay civilized and not chaotic. For example, Ralph says, “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking” (31). They will use the conch for when they are at meetings so that no one talks at the same time, and to make the society refined. In addition, William golding states, “The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (164).

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