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William Golding Lord Of The Flies Conch Analysis

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William Golding uses a multitude of symbols in his book, Lord of the Flies. One of the many symbols Golding uses is a conch, which is described as a creamy pink color, and approximately eighteen inches across. “In color the shell was deep cream, touched here and there with fading pink…lay eighteen inches of shell…” (16). The conch is a private symbol that Golding created to represent different interpretations to different characters. Ralph’s interpretation of the conch is power and authority; Whoever is holding the conch gets to speak, and it is Ralph who declared this rule. For Piggy, the conch represents order and reasonable thinking, because the conch is what holds civilization together and keeps the boys from becoming savage. As for Jack, his interpretation of the conch is that it holds rules, because it limits him from doing what he wants. In Lord of the Flies, the conch represents authority to Ralph, order to Piggy, and rules to Jack.
Ralph is introduced in chapter one as a privileged boy with blonde …show more content…

“…he was tall, thin, and bony…and ugly without silliness” (20). Golding creates a vivid image of Jack by telling how he is lanky, and not attractive. For Jack, the conch symbolizes rules, because it permits him to listen to others, and inhibits him from doing everything that he wishes. In chapter six, Jack finally begins to tell the others that the conch is unnecessary. “We don’t need the conch anymore” (102). After doing so, he also states that the conch doesn’t count on his side of the island, implying that he feels that the conch is completely meaningless. Shortly after the conch is destroyed in chapter eleven, Jack begins to scream loudly and hurls his spear at Ralph. Him doing this demonstrates that now that the conch is gone, Jack doesn’t have to follow the rules that it implied. Jack views the conch as a symbol of rules, because it keeps him from doing what he

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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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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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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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In the novel, Golding associates the conch with the boys nature, signifying there civilisation till it was destructed and therefore, the dark side of the boys was released when there was no unity or order. The beast is another important symbol demonstrating their impulses to becoming violent, that the 'beast' is within the boys themselves. The antagonist Jack is addressed to represent that without regulations of society all human beings are savages by nature. Golding includes these symbols, motifs and characters to confront the idea the dark side of human nature is represented when left to your own

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The conch is an important symbol because it helps the boys stay civilized and not chaotic. For example, Ralph says, “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking” (31). They will use the conch for when they are at meetings so that no one talks at the same time, and to make the society refined. In addition, William golding states, “The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (164).

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