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Into the wild character analysis
Into the wild character analysis
What is the symbolic meaning of "fire" in the novel
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Destruction of the Old Life Who knew a regular day of school would lead to crashing down on an unknown island with no supervision? Lord of the Flies stars a group of boys thrown into an uncharted, uncivilized, island where they have to do anything to survive. Anything. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Golding uses the fire, Jack, and the conch to represent hope, change and savagery, and order and civilization. The fire symbolizes the hope the boys have while on the island: the hope that died, came back, and died again. The fire, when bright and high symbolizes high hopes. For example, at the beginning, the boys were hopeful that they were going to be rescued, yet excited that they lived on an island with no adults. "The flame flapped higher and the boys broke into a cheer... The boys were dancing. The pile was so rotten, and now so tinder-dry, that whole limbs yielded passionately to the yellow flames that poured upwards and shook a …show more content…
“I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak” (33). In the beginning of the book, Ralph, the chief, made a short list of rules the boys needed to abide by, only speaking in assemblies with the conch is one. This shows that without the conch, there was nothing to stop others from taking over during their assemblies. The conch is used to silence others as well. “Ralph smiled and held up the conch for silence” (23). This shows the power the conch has over the group of boys, as well as the power Ralph has over the boys. As the book came to an end, Jack got tired of Ralph being chief and the conch telling him what to do. "We don't need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things. It's time some people knew they've got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us" (101-102). Here, Jack is trying to overrule the conch, Jack is attempting to overrule their old ways of civilization. Which he succeeds in
The conch is used as an indicator of meetings when the conch is blown, the boys know to meet at the platform for an assembly. Ralph calls the boys to an assembly by sounding the conch shell, “By the time Ralph finished blowing the conch the platform was crowded.” (Golding 32) At the sound of the conch, the boys on the island immediately head towards the platform for a group assembly. The conch shell is seen to the boys as a symbol of power that should be obeyed. An assembly can only be called with the sound of the conch, the meeting will be held at the place where the conch is. Despite Ralph being the official leader of the tribe, his authority to call meetings lies within the symbol of the conch shell. The conch shell becomes a vital part of the assemblies. The power to speak during a meeting is determined by whoever is holding the conch shell. As the group of boys all start to talk at once Ralph suggests, “We can’t have everybody talking at once…,” in which he establishes, “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.” (Golding 33) The rule is put into place by Ralph, in an attempt to create order among the group during assemblies. (Al-Khlaifate 49) Ralph is, “…symbolically representing the function and the rule of the democratic participation in a civilized society.” (Al-Khlaifate 47) With Ralph as a leader, the group is
The book Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an exhilarating novel that is full of courage, bravery, and manhood. It is a book that constantly displays the clash between two platoons of savage juveniles mostly between Jack and Ralph who are the main characters of the book. The Kids become stranded on an island with no adults for miles. The youngsters bring their past knowledge from the civilized world to the Island and create a set of rules along with assigned jobs like building shelters or gathering more wood for the fire. As time went on and days past some of the kids including Jack started to veer off the rules path and begin doing there own thing. The transformation of Jack from temperately rebellious to exceptionally
The conch is used for the first time in the book and able to draw all of the boys to the same spot on the island showing its power. “Immediately, the thing sounded. A deep harsh note boomed under the palms...” (Golding 12) Soon after the conch is blown, the boys start to arrive one by one. The conch is able to reach over the whole island to get the boys to gather. Very quickly the conch is put on a high place of order. In fact, the boys cannot even talk in the assemblies unless they are holding the conch. The conch can calm everybody down. If everything is going crazy, all Ralph has to do is blow the conch and then the boys will assemble. In addition to the power of the conch, it represents civility, as the boys are savages without it. “‘If I blow the conch and they don’t come back, then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued.’” (Golding 99) Ralph knows if they do not come back after he blows the conch then they have officially become savages; there would be no coming back from it. He does not want to blow the conch because he wants to believe that they are still civil and have order, but deep down he knows that they are savages. Throughout the novel, Ralph is always using the conch to bring order back to the boys. The boys are nothing without the conch....
What is the function of the conch in the assembly? It serves that people could speak their mind and no one could interrupt while the person with the conch.“And another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once. We’ll have to have ’Hands up’ like at school.”(pg.44) Ralph proposes this because it gets confusing when people are talking at once and it would work better if there is a panic.“That’s what this shell’s called. I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.”(pg.45) “And he won’t be interrupted: Except by me.” Ralph knows that the conch joined all together and he is proving himself to the others that he is a natural leader.
William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The flies’ presents us with a group of English boys who are isolated on a desert island, left to try and retain a civilised society. In this novel Golding manages to display the boys slow descent into savagery as democracy on the island diminishes.
The conch is a valuable item at the beginning of the book that holds a lot of power. Although the boys were able to come together and elect a chief among themselves, the chief does not hold the most power within the civilization. During the first whole group meeting where Piggy, observes
Jack’s disregard for the conch shows his growing distaste for laws and civilization. He also challenges Ralph's authority by implying he should be in charge of decisions taken for the group. After some time, Ralph is only left with Piggy, Samneric, and some littles on his side of the island.
When they are first stranded on the island, the boys use the conch to symbolize order and democracy. The boys use the conch to call assemblies and meetings and only the boy with the conch is allowed to speak. The conch comes to represent the boys’ civilization. As the book goes on, the boys begin to disobey the “conch rules”, and this leads to most of the boys becoming savages. They disobeyed the conch rules by speaking
In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of British schoolboys are stranded on an island, and soon find that fending for themselves and staying civilized is not as easy as they thought it would be. Although they start off with an organized society, through interactions with each other and objects around them, they become completely savage over time. Golding employs the symbolism of Jack, the conch shell, and the beast to serve the purpose of the allegory of the inherent evil of the human race.
The fire and the conch started out bright, full of life and gave the boys confidence and a feeling of home. As life falls apart on the island, the fire grows stronger and rich in color and the conch grows weaker and dull. When the conch breaks, society and any faith in order comes to an end. In the end, fire consumes everything and the hope for survival comes to a close. The complex concepts of fire and the conch changed along with the boys’ life on the island and in a way led them to their ultimate downfall.
The conch was used to call meetings but is also symbolic of the government structure and power. One of the main themes in the novel “Civilization vs. Savagery” is fought between two egos, Jack the Id who represents savagery and the desire for power and Ralph the Ego and protagonist, who represents order and leadership. William Golding created a society that was controlled by the dominant ego and influenced mostly by the person with the most manpower. Jack who was the leader of the hunter group influences the rest to join his tribe to hunt and kill. However, not all of the children on the island had the same savage trait as some others. This created a clash between tribes and leaders. You were left with the Good vs. Evil or Civilization vs. Savagery scenario.
While the boys are under Jack's control, they quickly went back into how they started when they first got there. However, Ralph was able to keep the boys under control by holding meetings. At the meetings, a sense of order is instilled because the boys are not allowed to speak unless they have the conch shell. "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking." (p. 31) By making this rule, he gains respect from the boys and becomes for confident as a leader. Ralph uses his power to tries to make the boys better people. He shows his by building them shelters. "They talk and scream. The littuns. Even some of the others." (p. 53) Ralph is saying that the boys need the shelters because they are afraid and the shelters will help the boys feel more secure. This shows he has better knowledge of people making him a better leader than Jack who does not understand this. Jack does not realize that the boys need to feel secure and need someone in control.
The conch was used and discovered by Ralph who is a character in the book to call a meeting in order for the boys that are on the island to join and work together to get rescued from the island. It is a symbol which had a power that leads the group of boys to civilization that will rescue them from the island. The conch makes a loud noise when anyone blows it, and everyone that is on the island is able to hear it. When Ralph discovers the conch, Piggy who is another character in the book tells Ralph to blow the conch to call the others “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us” (Golding. 17).
The fire, once signifying rescue and later used for destruction, becomes both. The novel ends in the adult perspective. The officer is uncomfortable thinking about the savagery of the boys, and looks off to his cruiser in the distance while Ralph weeps for "the end of innocence, and the darkness of man's heart." Golding is making a point about the hypocrisy of the civilization. In reality, the world is just a larger version of the island. The officer's comment on "the Coral Island" is also ironically significant in elevating The Lord of the Flies from a book about a group of lost boys on an island to a beautifully symbolic work of social commentary. The view presented is dark and pessimistic, making its readers look deep inside their own human nature and at the structure of society in a frighteningly different light.
When Ralph finds a conch shell and uses it to call the boys from all over the island, they come running. The conch is a very powerful tool. When the boys have settled the conch is used to control the boys and to create an order on the island. A rule is set out by Ralph using the conch, "Whoever has the conch has got the right to talk". This shows the conch's power and Ralph's leaderhsip.