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Lord Of The Flies Symbolism Analysis

Decent Essays

Lord Of The Flies In William Golding’s novel “Lord Of The Flies”, symbolism is a very important element of the book, Many symbols show how the young english boys’ on the island are losing their civility slowly becoming savage. The conch is just a shell, But it does represent 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 into it to find all the boys on the island and to call meetings later. During one of the meetings Ralph decided “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.’ ‘But-’ ‘look-’ ‘And he won’t be interrupted. Except by me.’”(31). This is one of the rules that represent respect and order. The conch is the source of power at a meeting whoever holds it speaks, Although the rule is broken a few times, mainly by jack when piggy has the conch, For example in chapter 9 on page 166 it says, “You left it behind. See, clever? And the conch doesn't count at this end of the island--”(166). This part is the fall of Jack and his tribe into savagery because they've turned their back on order and civilization because that's what the conch represents. Even though all of this happens the rule of the

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