As the flames of WWII were ceasing to exist, a new flame arise in a stranded pacific island along the carcass of a taken down plane. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a representation of society itself; it's an exposition of the darkness that hides in the heart of man, residing within children themselves. Golding empowered objects such as the conch shell, the signal fire and Piggy's glasses as pillars of civilization, holding back humanity´s primal desires, “the beast”, and therefore portraying the struggle between the two of them. Together they serve as symbols of power, order and knowledge that gain and lose their importance from the priorities the children hold. Golding created many symbols in The Lord of the Flies that acted as limiters of the desires in the human heart. He implemented Ralph and the conch shell as the bases of a democratic government. Ralph stood as a leader, while the conch shell represented the title and honor of one. The conch shell served to keep order within their tiny community as only those who held it were aloud to speak in …show more content…
They assigned roles and delegated work, but more importantly they established the importance order (the conch shell), knowledge/wisdom (Piggy's glasses) and hope (the signal fire). However as human nature has done for centuries, they created their own folklore and thus, “the beast” was born. The author gave this fictional creature a power that rivaled order, fear. The two symbols acted as a representation of the battle between sanity vs. savagery. As Golding progressed the story and tension arise, the dilemma the boys had between choosing one over. “Which is better to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?”. In the end, savagery came out as the winner and the allegory Golding wrote about the endless cycle in history about civilizations going from order to chaos was brought to an