Conch In Lord Of The Flies

At this point the book was at its highest point. Ralph was dead and there is a fear that the beast will come to kill them.

When Jack’s tribe and Ralph head up the mountain, they come into contact with a boar. Ralph hits the boar and says, “’I hit him with my spear, I wounded him’” (Golding 114). For a while, Ralph’s mind is stuck on the fact that he inflicted pain upon another form of life. Ralph then proceeded to chant along and stab at the little kid in the circle. This proves that humans are savage by nature because even Ralph, an innocent leader, turned evil. Ralph, like everyone else on the island at the end of the book, fell into the trap that is human nature. In addition to hitting the boar, Ralph also partakes in the beating and killing of Simon, an even more innocent boy. Once Simon stumbled out of the woods, Jack’s group attacked him, and so did Ralph. He didn’t who he was beating. His mind was just stuck on

Ralph's character is progressively broken down throughout the novel, only to be rebuilt stronger, and more knowledgeable in the end. If it wasn't for Ralph being hunted by Jack's tribe, the island would never be engulfed in flames; the boys would never be rescued. Thus, he also serves as the key character to the resolution of the novel. The events of the story prove that in a typical society, evil may gain control on occasion, but ultimately—everything will be balanced

The conflict between Ralph and Jack shows how lack of civilization can result to savagery. Ralph states, “We need shelters” contrasting to Jack who says, “We need meat” (Golding, p.42). The lack of civilization in Jack shows because he thinks hunting is more important than shelters although he has yet to catch a pig, while on the other hand Ralph thinks it’s more important to build shelter for a sense of home and protection from the rain and the beastie that all the littluns are afraid of. “Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing”(Golding, p. 15). This quote states that Ralph should be in charge because he has the conch, and Jack gets upset since he is not voted chief but then Ralph puts him charge of the choir boys who later on become the hunters. Ralph creates civilization when he is given power to become the chief on the island, and he has the power with or without the conch. Later in the novel when Ralph realizes he doesn’t like being dirty and “disliked perpetually flicking the tangled hair put of his eyes,” it shows that Ralph is used the civilization he had before and wants to return to that civilization (Golding, p.66). Then Jack becomes an example of savagery when he shows up to the fire in chapter 8, “stark naked save for the paint and a belt” (Golding, p.125). Ralph and his followers show the civilized and orderly side of the island, but on the contrary, Jack and his tribe show the savagery of man and barbaric side of the island.

In William Golding’s “Lord Of The Flies” Novel, symbolism is a very important element of the book, Many symbols show how the boys on the island are slowly becoming savage and losing their civility.

Ralph and Jack themselves are used as symbols of leadership. “Before the party had started a great log had been dragged into the center of the lawn and Jack, painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol." (149). The symbolism used in this quote shows how Jack is now seen as a leader figure, whereas Ralph is the actual leader. It also shows irony as well with Jack symbolically described as the leader of his civilization, while Ralph is really the leader of all of the group. In Chapter Nine, Simon resembles the beast. Simon was crawling in blood in an a effort to tell the others that the beast is harmless, and he is killed by Jack and his tribe, which is symbolized in their song and dance. Jack and his savages sang, "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!" (152) The fear and confusion brought upon the boys led them to kill Simon, showing the act of savagery as a direct reaction to the negativity in their environment. This fear and confusion brought to the island, caused heinous acts to be done by the once civilized - all caused by the spread of

Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” They saw Simon, thought he was the beast, so they brutally killed him out of fear.

They blew the conch and the kids on the island heard it and everyone came toward them. Once everyone regrouped, the group chose a leader and that was Ralph and they declared that whoever had the conch spoke. The Conch's power is shown when everyone votes for Ralph to be chief just because he was the one with the Conch. ' " Him with the shell."

One of these rules is that when they are in a group if someone wants to talk they “give the conch to the next person to speak”(Golding 33). The conch is a big white shell that was found when Ralph and Piggy first got onto the island, which is also blown loudly to organize the boys to a meeting. The use of the shell symbolizes order and civility because it is an object that is used to silence the boys and let people speak without everyone talking at once. However, as time passes on the island the power of the conch slowly deteriorates to the point where people don’t care about its meaning and constantly talk out of turn. This happens time and time again, until Piggy, holding the conch, gets hit by a boulder which causes “the conch [to explode] into a thousand white fragments and [cease] to exist”(181).

When the conch broke, it shows that when the conch broke, it showed its additional meaning of how democracy has ended on the island. This connects to Golding’s point of the novel because it represents that when there are no rules present, society can collapse or fall. It would happen because society wouldn’t have the motivation to live in peace and fairness. Savagery started to take over the boys when the rules didn’t exist anymore. This even lead to the death of Piggy as well because they lost their conscious.

The Conch in Lord of the Flies is symbolic for civilization, justice, law and order amongst the boys. For example Piggy expresses that “’…It’s ever so valuable-careful! You’ll break it-‘” (Golding 15). The Conch is momentous, it is the one instrument capable of assembling the boys and in a way keeping all of them in an appropriate condition. Ralph is also chosen as leader due to the tremendous service the Conch has done in favor of the boys.

Is there more meaning to the book Lord of the Flies than thought before? Throughout William Golding’s book called Lord of the Flies, symbolism is expressed in many ways. The book is a prime example of symbolism. Some examples of symbolism throughout the book is the conch, Piggy and the beast. The conch is one of the first illustrations of symbolism introduced in the story.

The boys state, ”Him with the shell.” For a while the conch helps unite the boys. However Jack decides to leave the group this leads to him refusing to see the conch as a powerful symbol.

“You all right, Piggy? I thought they wanted the conch. Ralph trotted down the pale beach and jumped on to the platform. The conch still glimmered by the Chief's seat” (236). Ralph along with the little kids and the others get ambushed by the

Although the boys would prefer to have fun and play games, they follow Ralph’s rules at first. This order is maintained until Ralph loses his leadership role to Jack. After providing, or bribing, the boys with juicy pig meat, Jack asks “’Who’ll join my tribe and have fun?’” (211). This lure of enjoyment along with the promise of more food sways the boys to follow Jack. With the demise of Ralph’s leadership and under the leadership of Jack, the boys begin to turn towards savagery.