Xavier Reynolds Mrs. Kyra English 9/10 7 March 2023 Shell of Sides Symbols in many different parts of literature, represent a sign word, or an idea which serves an important purpose in a story. The novel Lord of the Flies was written by William Golding, an author who served in World War 2 and based this novel on his experience with his service. The novel begins with a group of adolescent boys that are on a desert island with no adult supervision or rules. One boy named Ralph becomes the leader and tries to create an organized society on the island. However later on in the story everything spirals into chaos, as the group of boys no longer follow the rules given by Ralph and join Jack’s group of savages that had no sympathy and have fully lost …show more content…
For example, in the novel the main character Ralph addresses the group of boys about respecting each other and their thoughts, “That’s the shell is called, I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.” (Golding 27). During this part of the story, Ralph realizes that this device can create civilized conversations because the person holding the conch is the only one who can speak without being interrupted by any comments or opinions until it is passed on, creating a functional system that the boys use for respect towards each other and teaches some of the boys, such as the littluns, how to be respectful and patient to others. Also according to the met’s article Immaterial: Shells “Strauchen- Scherer traces our fascination with conch shell as an instrument and a beacon for spirituality throughout history and across the globe.” (“Immaterial: Shells”). This article implies that conch shells are extremely important in history as conch shells have a use as instruments for bringing civilizations together and establishing societal beliefs and values through music, such as folk songs and chants to regulate some sort of creativity for fun or out of boredom, this can describe most things attributed to the bored and impatient boys on the island such as there own chanting after a kill and a sense of culture. In The Lord of the Flies the conch is a symbol of