The Lord of the Flies – Artifacts of Allegory The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is an allegorical tale of a group of boys stranded on an island, who fall prey to their natural and not so natural instincts. Set in major wartime, the boys are shipped out from the war zone, but, somewhere on their route, their plane crashes. The story covers the idea of civility vs. savagery and the natural instinct of human nature through the use of many symbols and artifacts in their island life. Below are just a few of said artifacts. The Conch Shell In the book, the boys struggle to create structure in a place that shuns the idea. One chance comes in the form of a conch shell, found on the beach by Ralph and Piggy. This shell is originally used to call all the boys together and is eventually a symbol of democratic debate between the boys. It is with that same conch shell that Ralph gives his philosophical speech and lays down the ground rules to the group for the island. It also gauges the level of civility that the boys maintain; the more savage they become, the more the shell …show more content…
Due to their childish nature, the boys run into fire related issues twice. The first time the fire rages through the island forest, and we are left to believe that this fire kills one of the boys, as he disappears. The second time, the fire is neglected and dies out completely. It is at this point in the book the boys have neglected the rules, becoming more and more unruly. Unlike the fire, their savagery begins to burn bright. Eventually, this flame engulfs the boys themselves, as their now savage instinct turns them against each other. It is the resulting flame that eventually brings the remaining boys back to safety when a plane sees the fire started by Jack in attempt to hunt down Ralph. The fire is not only the boys’ hope of rescue, but the eventual destruction of some and the rescue of
Second, of the many symbolic objects in the Lord of the Flies is the conch shell. The white conch shell represents the state of civilization on the island, the slow deterioration of this civilization, and finally the extinction of all of the civilization on the island. With the discovery of the conch shell it comes to symbolize the rise of civilization on the island. When Piggy exclaims to Ralph “Careful! You’ll break it—“(15) as he goes to pick up the shell, it shows the fragility of civilization and how one wrong move can shatter it. After that, Piggy then goes on to explain how valuable the conch is and how much it would cost to purchase in a shop. He informs “—a conch; ever so expensive. I bet if you wanted to buy one, you’d have to pay pounds and pounds and pounds—“(16). This discussion over the value of the conch symbolically displays just how precious civilization is to humans and the expense that the shell would bring in a shop displays the price that many are willing to pay for civilization. Ralph and Piggy then decide to use the shell to summon any other boys who are on the island. The shell is used to bring together a group of diversity and appeases their differences to create order. The conch shell also represents the creation of a key factor to its civilization. Once the group has been gathered, they begin to take the steps to organize themselves and assign duties. The organization and assignment of duties are both key roles into forming and maintaining
As the boys remained on the island, the conch shell represented a symbol of unity and democracy for themselves. When Ralph and Piggy first encounter on the island, they agree that they should figure out if there are any other survivors, after their plane crashed due to an atomic bomb from the outside war. After Ralph
The conch is just a shell, But it does represents much more than that, the conch is power, order, respect and civility and when it's broken, It’s the loss of civilization. The conch is first found by Piggy and Ralph when they first get to the beach. Piggy who’s seen one before at someones house said “He used to blow it and then his mum would come. It’s ever so Valuable”(11). Then later Ralph used it to do the same thing by blowing in it to find all the boys on the island and to call meeting later. During one of the
When the fire burns down part of the island at the beginning of the story, Piggy notices that one of the boys are missing and says to everyone “That little ‘un that had a mark on his face-where-is he know? I tell you I don’t see him.” (47). The fire, which was only intended for a small signal fire, was not being cared for by the hunter and actually killed one of the children on the island. Even though fire is a necessity, if it is not cared for, it can bring devastation to those involved. Similarly, at the end of the story, Jack in his sadistic and savage state lights a fire that almost engulfs the whole island. This is about the time when a group of officers notice the fire and come to see what is going on. One of the officers ask “Nobody killed I hope? Any dead bodies?” “Only two, and they’ve gone.” The officer leaned down and looked closely at Ralph. “Two? Killed? Ralph nodded again. Behind him, the whole island was shuddering with flame.” (201). By the end of the book, the fire has become much more than just warmth and shelter. It has become a new symbol of power and greed. Whoever has the ability to create fire now has the advantage over the other people on the
While reading this novel, the reader will be able to tell that the conch plays a big role with the boys on the island. Ralph who spots it in the lagoon first finds the conch. Ralph and Piggy are amazed and can already tell how important the conch would be right when they first see it. The author describes the conch: “In color the shell was deep cream, touched here and there with fading pink. Between the point, worn away into a little hole, and the pink lips of the mouth, lay eighteen inches of shell with a slight spiral twist and covered with a delicate, embossed pattern” (Golding 16). Since the author goes into so much detail about the conch, the reader realizes it is a very important symbol. During the beginning of the story, the boys have a vote and elect Ralph as the leader “Him with the shell. Ralph!
Williams Golding experienced many horrors that haunt him, which bleed over into his writing as evident in his vivid descriptions of horrid and inhumane occurrences. Lord of the Flies is about a group of school boys that are stranded on an island without adults. The boys form their own leadership, in the latter part of Lord of the Flies a new tribe is formed and the boys descent to savagery. Chapter 9 is the turning point of the story, it is when the boys lose their innocence and they become savage. Simon is beaten to death in a circle of savages (death circle). Each word, adjective, and event was picked carefully by Golding to further emphasize his allegory. In chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies, William Golding employs diction, animal imagery, and foreshadowing to convey the that fear corrupts hope and converts civilization to savagery.
The Signal Fire: In the beginning of the book, after all the boys were gathered, they made a fire on the mountain. It later on burned on the beach. The boys made it as a signal fire to attract any passing ships or planes. It’s a symbol of their desire to reconnect with society. Depending on the level of the fire, that is what motivates the boys to have the demand to be rescued. When the fire ran low, their urgency to be saved also diminished.
The fire represents the boys hope and desire to come back home. It shows the fight that is left inside of them and the humanity still intact. Many times Ralph and Jack fight over maintaining the fire because Ralph sees it as their only chance to survive while jack feels they don't need to become rescued. Lots of the boys eventually abandon the fire and they are the ones who become savage and give in to the beast. Ralph speaks of the importance of the fire in this quote “The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t keep a fire going? Is a fire too much for us to make?...Look at us! How many are we? And yet we can’t keep a fire going to make smoke. Don’t you understand? Can’t you see we ought to die before we let the fire out? (Golding 31).”
Without realizing it, children grow into amateur scientists by making predictions and observations, and even develop analysis skills.
‘Cos the smoke is a signal and we can’t be rescued if we don’t have smoke” (Page 249). In this case fire symbolized freedom to civilization for the boys. This shows the reader how the boys still wanted to be in the real society, not their makeshift community. Also, this shows the reader how the boys were trained to think like they were still in the real
Throughout the book the fire’s status first being extinguished and then lit again clearly portrays the ruckus on the island and in the souls of boys. By all means, the rescue fire is a symbol that forms the bond between the civilization and the children’s
In the novel, fire was an important part of survival for the boys, “How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep a fire going? Is a fire too much for us to make?" (Golding 80). This quote represents hope that the boys will be recused and was a link to civilization. The fire also signified order and leadership because the boy’s goal was to protect the fire from burning out and Ralph was able to give commands to the boys in order be saved.
As a result, the fire becomes a indicator for the boys connection to civilization. In the beginning of the novel when the boys make the signal fire, it showing that the boys want to go home and return to their normal lives. When the fire comes close to burning out, the most of the boys realize that the idea of being rescued is dwindling away and they’re ready to take on the life of savagery. So the signal fire starts to act like a measurement of the the islands strength of civilized manners. Ironically at the end of the story, a fire that Jack starts in the forest ends up signaling a ship to come by and rescue all of them, but only Simon and Piggy made it.
The conch shell is the opening symbol in the novel and lasts roughly to the very end of the story. The conch is found by Ralph and Piggy, which they use to summon the boys together after the crash. “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us—" (Golding 16). The conch represents civilization and order on the island. In the start the conch is given to a boy
In this novel, the conch shell is one of the most important symbols due to its respect, power and authority over the boys; the conch itself loses power throughout the course of the story. Once known that the boys are stranded on unknown island, Ralph, the