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Conch's Power In Lord Of The Flies

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Civilization is the one thing that has, over the centuries, both enslaved and set free certain groups of people. It is also one of the few things that distinguishes men from animals. It shows the control they are able to have over themselves in order to cooperate and survive. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies tells the story of a group of schoolboys who have been marooned on an island at the outbreak of a third world war. It follows the boys as they degenerate from a sort of rule guided society to a tribe of lawless savages. The devolution of their state of affairs can be tracked by the conch shell, a symbol of order throughout the novel. As order falls apart, so do the rules that are enforced by the conch, causing the rule of the conch to become spurned until its final destruction. …show more content…

Ralph finds the conch and once he is schooled on how to blow it he “continues to blow till voices shouted in the forest,” (. The boys who were wandering around the island were suddenly bound by the sound, they were given a purpose, a place they needed to go. The freedom they feel is contradicted by the conch. What was for a few moments glorious freedom, became once again society with its responsibilities. The boys came together and immediately began hashing out the rules by which they would live in their civilization. The conch took them from wandering to a band of brothers attempting to create a society. The boys try to recreate the security and safety of the adult world by reproducing the same kind of life. Unfortunately the unity brought by the conch cannot

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