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The Symbolisms Of Symbolism In Lord Of The Flies

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In Lord of the Flies, there are many unique symbols. As the story developed so did each of the symbols in the novel. The symbols in this book include the conch shell, the fire, and the beast.
One of the first symbols to appear is the conch shell. The conch shows the start of civilization and rule. In the first chapter, the conch was found near a lagoon on the beach. Piggy said, “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us-.” When this happens the conch shell represents unity, power, and order. The conch’s power and order are present as the children vote for Ralph to be chief. ‘ “Him with the shell.” “Ralph! Ralph!” “Let him be chief with the trumpet thing”’ From that day on the conch is used to call meetings and the person who held the conch had the freedom to speak without being interrupted. The boys fall deeper into savagery and find themselves disconnected from order and authority, especially as Jack begins to defy Ralph and pull away from the tribe. As the story progressed, this right is abused when Piggy tries to speak and Jack tells him to shut up. Towards the end of the book when Jack is on the run from Ralph’s tribe, he thinks “there was no solemn assembly for debate nor dignity of the conch.” This shows how much the boys depended on the conch …show more content…

At the same time the conch begins to lose its power. At the of the novel, the conch has become very fragile and there is almost no order and authority left among the boys. When Piggy is

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The destruction of the conch occurred when the boys had fully lost their innocence and had turned “Savage.” The destruction of the conch took place after Jack decided to leave Ralph and start his own tribe on the other side of the island and coerced many of Ralph’s followers to join him, and this is when the demise of civilized thoughts and order really occurred. “... 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). The destruction of the conch ment the boys had returned to their primitive stages, in which civilization and order didn’t exist, only savagery existed. The conch was proof of the boys being civilized, and on the opposite side of the spectrum, the conch breaking was showing how they had lost all sense of civilization and have become completely savage.

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