Written in the symbolistic era of writing, William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, contains many symbols meant to express an overarching theme: the nature of human instincts. Being stranded on an island by a plane crash, a British group of boys have to survive on their own without any connections to the adult world. Described as having a weight problem, poor eyesight, and asthma, Piggy is not your prototypical leader; instead, he is more of an advisor with wisdom and knowledge to help the boys keep order. Similarly, the conch shell represents what civil order was left on the island once man’s essential illness took over. Although there are many symbols and relationships that are shown throughout the book, Piggy’s connected nature to the …show more content…
Once the book begins, Piggy quickly meets Ralph, the oldest boy on the island, and starts to collaborate with him. While in the lagoon, Piggy points out a stone shaped object that turns out to be the conch that would bring everyone together; however, Ralph does not know how to use it in an effective way. He needs Piggy’s help to show him how to blow the shell in a sonorous way to attract the attention of the group. This theme of Ralph listening to the ideas and advice of Piggy can relate to Ralph’s use of the conch shell to unify and gather the people. Later in the story, we can see how these two symbols can be intertwined in nature. One reason for this interconnectedness is the actions of Ralph. His ability to blow the conch and have the “platform crowded”(32) almost instantly showed the respect that the children had for civilization in the beginning of the story. In this quote the conch is a unifier and allows for the island to be run in a smoother fashion. Although at the start, Ralph puts Piggy down, later, he realizes the true benefit of having Piggy on the island. As mentioned before, Piggy wore glasses, making him extremely valuable to the entire group because of the need for a rescue fire. Ralph uses Piggy and the conch in seperate ways, but they are both used in benefit of the
Ralph does not care about Piggy’s feelings or well-being. Not only is Ralph apathetic towards Piggy, he also takes Piggy’s ideas as his own, placing himself on an undeserving pedestal as the group leader. When Piggy and Ralph were stranded from the other boys on the island, it is Piggy who steps into action, finds the conch, and turns it into a way to call the others (15-16). Yet, Ralph is the one who blows the conch and indirectly takes credit for the ingenious idea. When voting for a chief on the island the boys exclaim, “[l]et him be chief with the trumpet-thing,” (22).
The shift from the boy’s civilized society to chaos run by savages is symbolized through the fading health status of the conch. While touring the island, Ralph and Piggy stumble upon the conch: “In color the shell was deep cream, touched here and there with fading pink” (Golding 16). The fresh, new, and healthy appearance of the shell is similar to the beginning stages of their society. The conch not only maintained the necessary order but also induced power and a sense of community into the society. As the days creep by the order is quickly replaced by savagery: “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (Golding 181).
He interrupts Piggy and expresses his irrigation towards the high regard and respect that the conch is held to and is questioning Ralph’s abilities as a leader. “Conch! Conch!” shouted Jack. “We don’t need the conch anymore.
The most interesting part that I thought in the Lord of the flies by William Golding was the symbolism with the conch shell. In the beginning of the story Piggy and Ralph spot a conch shell and decide to use it to call a meeting. “‘What's that?” ralph had stopped smiling and was pointing into the lagoon. Something creamy lay among the ferny weeds. “A stone” “no.
Nearing the end of the book, when Jacks tribe raids ralph for Piggy’s glasses, Piggy runs for the conch and protects it while their being attacked. This shows just how much the conch matters to Piggy and being an adult- like person, it makes the island feel like
Have a meeting. They'll come when they hear us--’ He beamed at Ralph.(16)” Without the presence of the conch and the idea of how to use it, Ralph and Piggy would most likely have been alone and would not have found the other boys. Therefore, it is justifiable to say that Piggy is the cause of the evolution of the society. The conch to them signifies society and civilization and the absence of Piggy’s idea, would have resulted in further loss of civilization.
The conch shell is first found by Piggy and Ralph who use it to call for survivors. The shell is then established as a symbol of democracy, as found in this quote, “... I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking,” (33). Allowing each boy to speak when in possession of the conch shows that, although Ralph is chief, all boys can have a say in the rulings of the island. This democratic system is a beginning representation of our world in which everyone knows their place and there is overall peace.
Piggy stops Ralph from doing something dumb that he will
“Power is dangerous. It attracts the worst and corrupts the best.” When the young boys first gathered after the crash, they were civil, mostly well behaved boys until the need for power took advantage of them. Two crucial symbols from the novel are the sow’s head and the conch shell. Each of these symbols represent power however, their powers have different meanings.
He always wants to help Ralph lead the group as chief, in Chapter 1, Piggy finds “a shell” that they use “to call the others… [to] a meeting” (Golding 16). His idea to use the conch helps him with his aesthetics need for order throughout the island because he “understand[s] and appreciate[s] beauty, balance, and form” (Maslow 6). Although, he has trouble succeeding with this because he is missing many of the lower levels on the pyramid. According to Maslow we “must meet [the] needs in order...and cannot be concerned with needs higher on the pyramid until” we meet the lower levels, and Piggy fails to receive the support required for his love and belonging desires.
In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the conch is a primary symbol, which represents civility and order. Throughout the book it served as a power tool that the boys highly respected, in fact, the symbolism of the conch begins before it is even blown. Ralph is the one who originally discovers and posses the shell, but it’s Piggy who explains it’s significance. Piggy has to teach Ralph how to blow it; this shows how from the beginning the conch is linked with both Piggy and Ralph.
Powerful or Powerless The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an interesting novel that shows many different circumstances that happen to civilization, for better or for worse, through the actions of children. Ralph, the main character, opens the novel up with Piggy. The two boys are strolling through the woods on this island that they have been stranded on. They had survived a horrible plane crash, fleeing the land that they came from, hoping to find somewhere safer to stay.
Ralph never acknowledges that Piggy was the first to point out the conch shell and explained to Ralph what it was. Ralph, instead of giving credit to Piggy for the idea of the conch shell, blows through the conch and then takes charge. Ralph begins giving orders and proceeds to take on the role of chief. Ralph’s authority was made possible because “there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch.” (22).
The conch and the sow’s head both wield a specific type of power over the juvenile boys in Lord of the Flies. The conch, used to call assemblies, represents progress and civilization while the sow’s head represents terror, barbarity, and malevolence and is partly to blame for Simon’s demise. Lord of the Flies is a novel about power because throughout the book Jack and Ralph quarrel over who should be the chieftain of the children and the novel uses the conch and the sow’s head to represent divergent forms of power and authority. Also, the book shows the reader the power of symbols such as the conch and the pig’s head and even the island that the children remain inevitably imprisoned on until their liberation at the conclusion of the novel. Just about everything within this novel is a representation of something that is considerably greater.
Homo sapiens when unfettered from humanity’s procedures and interdicts, permit their innate competence for malevolence to govern their actuality. In William Golding 's Lord of the Flies, the boys who are marooned on the isle come across several distinctive entities that symbolize ideas or concepts. Through the use of icons such as the conch, Piggy’s glasses, and the beast, Golding adds in layers of meaning to the surface text. The conch, which had a high priority during the formation of a society, degrades as the story progresses into a ruthful situation.