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What Is The Conch Shell Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

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In the book Lord of the Flies by William Goldings, a group of boys was sent somewhere anonymous to stay safe during world war two, but their plane got shot down. The group of boys became deserted on an island and two boys named Jack and Simon fought for leadership on the island. They both had different views. Simon wanted to get off the island by making smoke from a fire while Simon wanted to be a savage and have fun by hunting and killing. Throughout the book, we see different important symbols on the island, including a conch shell, fire, and a pig’s head. The Conch shell was first found by Simon. The conch shell was first spotted by Piggy and Ralph. They imposed a rule that you can only talk when you have the conch. The conch represented law and order. This conch shell created peaceful talk and arguments. When the chief blows on the conch you have to stop what you’re doing and listen to …show more content…

Jack and his hunters hunted down a pig and killed it brutally and then he put the pig’s head on the stick. He claimed that it was a sacrifice to the beast on the island. The beast was imaginary, but Jack used the fear of the beast as a tool to keep control of the boys on the island. Simon started to hallucinate and started to have conversations with the head. For example, the head started to talk to Simon“I’m warning you I’m going to get angry. Do you see? You’re not wanted. Understand? We are going to have fun on the island! So don’t you try it on, my poor misguided boys or else. Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth. There was blackness within, a blackness spreading.”(143)The quote shows how Simon is starting to lose his mind imagining Pig heads talk. The quote also has a deep message. The pig's message to Simon is that if he bothers Jack’s group and all the fun they're having there will be consequences. Even though Simon was hallucinating there were consequences. Coincidently later he was accidentally

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