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Lord Of The Flies Conch Symbolism

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Symbolism of the Conch in Lord of the Flies by William Golding represents civilization. The novel Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys from England who have been stranded on an island after an airplane crash. They are expected to fend for themselves and are slowly reverting back to their primal savage ways. The group is quickly split into two a savage side and a rational, civilized side. Throughout the novel a key symbol was the conch. The conch starts off as a symbol for civilization, however as the book progresses it is also a symbol for the loss of civilized manners and maintaining order, and this is shown through the ability to start meetings, granting the ability to talk, and the destruction of the conch. The conch had the ability …show more content…

The destruction of the conch occurred when the boys had fully lost their innocence and had turned “Savage.” The destruction of the conch took place after Jack decided to leave Ralph and start his own tribe on the other side of the island and coerced many of Ralph’s followers to join him, and this is when the demise of civilized thoughts and order really occurred. “... 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). The destruction of the conch ment the boys had returned to their primitive stages, in which civilization and order didn’t exist, only savagery existed. The conch was proof of the boys being civilized, and on the opposite side of the spectrum, the conch breaking was showing how they had lost all sense of civilization and have become completely savage. Not only did they break the conch but proof of them losing their state of being civilize is shown when Rodger purposely kills Piggy and no one but Ralph seems to care. “See? See? That’s what you’ll get!” (Golding 181). These words were spoken by Jack right after the death of Piggy, and it shows that he didn’t care about Piggy’s life, he only cared about having power and living prosperously in his own ideals. Overall the Lord of the Flies is a novel that shows the savagery inside every person regardless of how civilized they seem to be. Whether people want to believe it or not they are selfish and are evil on the inside which is told by the Lord of the Flies in the book. This is truly shown by the conch and its ability to create meetings, give people the ability to speak, and the destruction of the

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