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What Does The Conch Shell Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

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Have you ever wondered what would happen if you were stuck on an island with just a bunch of kids? Would things stay organized and civilized, or would primal instincts take over? The book Lord of the Flies by William Golding explores this idea; as the boys in the book interact, a strong symbol in a conch shell emerges. The boys start to use the shell to call meetings but, in the end, the shell is destroyed during a disagreement between the two groups that emerge on the island, the savages and Ralph's civilized group. The conch shell is an important symbol that represents authority, order, and civilization. It reveals the theme of civilization versus savagery through its rise and fall in influence that culminated in its eventual destruction. The conch shell in Lord of the Flies represents authority and civilization through the way the boys use it to call order to their meetings …show more content…

This is shown in the way that it is used as well as in the timeline of the book. The conch shell is used to call meetings to order and at the beginning, it keeps order at those meetings. Another way that order can be associated with the conch shell is by looking at the timeline of the book; in the beginning, when the conch shell is still prominent and respected the group of boys is very orderly. Jack stated, “’We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are best at everything’” (Golding 42). When the conch shell is prominent and respected the boys are orderly but when the conch shell is not prominent and not respected the boys stray away from order and into savagery, this is illustrated by the morbid chant created by the boys “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (138). This timeline shows that the prominence of the conch shell is strongly correlated with order on the island, additionally this timeline illustrates a transition from orderly civilization to savagery throughout the

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In the Lord of the Flies, Ralph and Piggy discover a conch shell on the beach. The Conch is used to summon the boys altogether after the crash that separates them. The conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order in the novel. I think the Conch symbolizes as the last reminder of civilization or the holder of conch is powerful because the Conch is a difficult tool to use/ activate. The reason that Ralph was the leader of the group was because he could activate the conch and that conch is seen as power and authority towards the boys.

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In "Lord Of The Flies,"by William Golding, the conch shell is a powerful symbol that represents order, democracy, and civilization on the island. The conch plays a significant role in the novel, and its symbolism evolves as the boys' society as the island changes. "The shell was no longer a thing seen but not to be touched, Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering"(104). This quote illustrates the initial power and respect that the boys have for the conch.

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In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies the Conch represents power and order. The Power of the Conch is characterized when the boys have to hold the conch in order to speak in power. Order is shown in when the person has ownership of the conch there is a meeting held and everyone must tune in to the shell holder. “‘Him with the shell.”

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For the boys, the shell symbolized the organization of the clan. The conch specialized in bringing everyone together and distinguishing who was talking. In some ways, it expressed democracy's power; the individual who had the conch shell communicated power. Throughout the novel, one may gather that the boy’s organization and civilization began to deconstruct. The band of boys split, leaving two groups:

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In the novel there are two main symbols that wield the most power and are the most influential on the characters. These two symbols are the conch shell and the sow’s head. On many occasions, not only do these objects have a certain power of their own, but characters in the novel use them to obtain power for themselves. The conch shell is a very influential symbol and in the novel, and it possesses a considerable amount of power.

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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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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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In the book Lord of The Flies by William Golding, the conch symbolizes order, civilization and power. In the book, there are school aged boys from England who are deserted on an uninhabited island, and the protagonist, Ralph, becomes leader. He uses the conch as the object that represents his leadership and power. As the book continues, the conch is broken and Ralph loses his power as the civilization crumbles. In the book Lord of The Flies, the conch symbolizes order, civilization and power.

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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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In The Help, Miss Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan takes many risks and has to make some very hard decisions that could seriously affect people other than herself. Throughout the story, Hilly Holbrook is extremely rude and difficult to handle. Being put in Skeeter's shoes, I definitely wouldn't have been friends with Hilly for as long as she was. I feel as though Skeeter was guilted into being ¨friends¨ with her because they grew up together.

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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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Golding uses the conch shell as a symbol of order and civilization on the island of boys. In the beginning, the conch is a beautiful shell that holds power and respect, but in the end of the book, the shell no longer holds the power and it is not important to the more savage boys such as Jack and Roger. The shell is destroyed when Piggy is killed which represents the loss of order as they turn into savages and descend to hell. A subtheme that is portrayed by this is that the most beautiful and orderly things in life can be destroyed by evil. When the boys first arrive they all come to the call of the shell on the paradise island.

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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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