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Who Is The Conch In Lord Of The Flies

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The novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding is about a group of survivors from a plane crash (ranging from ages five and up) whom are challenged by the idea of a civilized community in which they try to maintain, but is distracted by the pleasure they can consume on the island. Throughout the novel, the cause of the altering of the representation of the fire and the conch shell is due to the power shift on the island. In the beginning of the novel, the conch gives everyone an opportunity to voice their opinions symbolizing order and establishment. As Piggy discovers a conch shell on the beach, he retains the memory of a man who used to own a shell similar to the one he finds on the shore and how it can create a loud sound which “'can …show more content…

When Ralph and Piggy attempts to go talk to Jack and put some sense in him, the savagery in Roger consumed all of what was left of his civilized self as “[the] rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (181). Piggy, being the last innocent adolescent in the group has came to his death parallel to the conch being the last connection to a civilized society coming to its’ end. Similar to Piggy’s role in the novel, the conch shell completely shatters, out of it’s existence. The act of savagery that Roger commits, devours the meaning of the conch, which is to maintain the idea of a civilized society. “The conch exploding into a thousand white fragments” symbolizes the broken idea of being a civilized community. Each of the fragments from the shell represents each unique individual, but the shell breaking essentially crushes the scheme of being together as one despite the uniqueness in each individual in the community. The conch shell is the last and only hope for the children into becoming in a more humane community, but now that “It shatters into thousands of white fragments”, It is worth nothing to the survivors living on the

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