In the novel “Lord Of The Flies” written by William Golding, there are three major things that bring readers to a understanding and which has a impact upon the boys and the overall outcome of the novel. However there were three symbols that really symbolizes that story as a whole. We can see within the novel that drastic change that the boys go through and how the three symbols come into play with it. The conch, the body paint, and the beast have a great significance on the bhoys let alone the outcome of the novel.
The conch was found in chapter 1 by Piggy and Ralph, was thought to be used as a way to call order, and kept everything under control. Upon finding the conch, Piggy suggest to Ralph, “‘We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting.
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They’ll come when they hear us-?’” (15).
When the boys were all together, they discussed about having a chief, and when they elected the chief who has authority from the conch, it was Ralph who was elected. The candidates for chief were between Ralph and Jack, and because Ralph had won the role as chief, this brought tension between the two boys. “Jack spoke. ‘We’ve got to decide on being rescued.’ There was a buzz. One of the small boys, Henry, said that he wanted to go home. ‘Shut up,’ Said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. ‘Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things.’ …. ‘ I tried tried to get over that hill to see if there was water round. But your shell called us.’ Ralph smiled and held up the conch for silence.” (22). In the first chapter, the novel enlightens the reader on the ‘power’ of the conch and how quickly it develops. The conch greatly supports the theme of savagery against civilization. It shows how the boys need someone to look after them, since there are no adults watching them and giving them orders. Although some boys act very civil due to the conch, others act barbaric due to their thought upon wanting to survive. This is where the thought of savagery VS civilization come
into play with the conch. The shell governs the boys’ meetings and gives power to whom is holding the conch. “‘There aren’t any grownups. We shall have to look after ourselves.’ The meeting hummed and it was silent. ‘And another thing. We can’t have everyone talking all at once. We’ll have to ‘Hand’s up’ like at school.’ He held the conch before his face and glanced (31). The longer the boys stayed on the island they begin to slip away from civilization but this conch kept them hanging onto their little civilization left within them. The boys begin to act very barbaric and like a savage, when they paint themselves with the body paint this really symbolizes the boys’ new form of act. The boys were struggling to hang on their civilization with the respect and order of the conch but some felt as if that was not important. As the boys start to begin to act this in the novel you can fireshadow that the boys are going to be very barbaric and this really influences the way the novel ended. The paint libertally show where the story is going and the freeness the boys feel now. Since the boys have freeness to do as they please they thought that what was necessary was chores for them and they did not want to do them, this resolved in some of the tension from the two boys to uprise. The body paint was Jack's idea and by this he was showing that if they did stuff this way they can get more done, but this unleashed the boys to act very barbaric. Although Jacks intentions were to blend into the surrounding it had a great effect upon them, this hid their identity of who they were before, and gave them freedom to be different. “He rubbed the charcoal stick between the patches of red and white on his face. ‘No. You two come with me.’ He peered at his reflection and disliked it. He bent down, took up a double handful of lukewarm water and rubbed the mess from his face. Freckles and sandy eyebrows appeared.” (57) Some of the boys such as Rodger were struggling on how they were going to act and when Rodger rubs off the paint this indicates that he is struggling with the idea of being a savage like the others. With the boys acting very barbaric and like a savage they stopped fully comprehending what was going on and just assumed. By just assuming this caused fears and troubling situations. SamnEric where walking and saw the dead pilot and decide to assume that this was a beast. They informed the others about this so called beast, the fear of this mysterious beast began to start growing. Within the novel the boys try to make up places of which the beast lies in such as, the air, the water, and the darkness. This new fear upon the boys triggers the boys to be very alarm and the night of the dance the boys think that they see the beast but all they really see is Simon but they jumped to conclusions, by this they landed up killing a innocent boy. This exaggerated beast brought fear and this relate to the conch and the body paint, this shows that the boys can become very uncivilized. On balance these three symbols the conch, the body paint, and the beast have a great significance on the novel. These symbols bring out the clear characteristics of the boys and foreshadow many thing that will happen within the novel. They avidly demonstrate just how uncivil a person can become, and by becoming very uncivil they can become barbaric. These three symbols brought the uprising point of the novel to a next level by giving it meaning and purpose. It brought certain qualities of the boys such as being a leader, fear, and withstantion of being able to keep their civility. By examining and comprehending the novel we can conclude the significance of these symbols and their impact.
The meaning behind the conch shifts throughout the story. It begins as a symbol for order and civilization, as exemplified by Piggy when he states, “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us.” , and becoming
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies there are many examples of symbolism. The conch shell represents order, the appearance of the boys represents savagery, and the fire on top of the mountain represents rescue. These examples are all symbols in the book.
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
The conch shell represents democracy, power, and stability. When Ralph first discovers the conch shell, Piggy proposes to Ralph that they, “.can use this to call the others. Have a meeting with us. They’ll come, when they hear us” (16) and that was the birth of the conch shell. Throughout meetings that are held at the beach, the conch is used as a “speaking stick”.
They thought their society was stable; they thought it would last. It all started with the conch shell that gathered them. In the book The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of boys became nomads on an island causing them to take on the biggest challenge of their lives, survival. The traits for a successful survivalist would include cooperation, maturity and responsibility. But if they can’t achieve those traits they will crash, causing chaos on the island.
The conch was the only thing that held the boys with a moral glue that they knew what their limit was. Golding states the power the conch once had with the boys, "Conch! Conch!" shouted Jack. "We don’t need the conch any more.
Ralph feels the need to create a better place as he attempts to get everyone home. Although he is demanding, Ralph shows that he has good ideas and can enforce what he thinks should happen: "Shut up," said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. "Seem to me we ought to have a chief to decide things," (Golding, 22)." His forcefulness gains respect and a confident response from the others. "Ralph smiled and held up the conch for silence," (Golding, 23)." The conch is mentioned and revered as one of the symbols of such power. As Ralph blows the conch, the others draw nearer, compelled to follow: "By the time Ralph had finished blowing the conch the platform was crowded," (Golding32). Piggy, however, was aware of the conch first, but Ralph was credited with its discovery and use. When it was first found, Ralph thought it was a stone in the water but Piggy saw it as the shell and explained what he knew about it:
As the boys time on the island goes on the conch slowly becomes of less and less valuable. When the boys first start to make a fire on top of the mountain, Piggy takes the conch and tries to speak, shortly after Jack interrupts him. Jack stops him by saying," The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain" Said Jack," So you shut up" (Golding42). He starts disrespecting the boys and the conch. Jack sees all the weaknesses in Ralph’s way of order. When the boys no longer respect the conch everything takes a turn "the conch had been two of the few representations of civilization and common sense on the island " (Saidi,Hasan). Without the conch there are no rules and no way of order. “Jack was the first to make himself heard. He had not got the conch and thus spoke against the rules; but nobody minded” (Golding 87). The conch fades and the slowly fading of the conch represents the slowly fading of the peace and agreement of the boys. "[Ralph] took the conch down from the tree and examined the surface. Exposure to the air had bleached the yellow and pink to a near-white transparen...
Imagine a group of young boys who have just crash-landed on a deserted tropical island with no adults or supervision. William Golding showed in his ground breaking novel Lord of the Flies, what may happen in just those circumstances. In his very complicated and diverse novel Golding brings out many ideas and uses many literary devices. Above all others though comes symbolism of three main important objects being the conch, fire, and "Piggy's" eyeglasses. Through each of these three symbols Golding shows how the boys adapt and change throughout the novel. These symbols also help to show each of the boy's ideals on a variety of elements from human nature to society and its controls. All three of these symbols also change and are one of the most important elements of the story.
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.
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).
This conch is the only connection to the order and rules of the boys’ past lives, as there is no other influence on them in the isolated natural state of the island. Golding’s readers are able to see the boys’ return to their innate savagery as they increasingly reject all that the conch represents. When the shell finally ceases to exist, cruel savagery and terrorizing fear take over the island. Their inherently savage selves are finally
In the Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses a variety of symbols to represent ideas, or abstract notions or conceptions about people, places, and things. A symbol, according to the Webster's Dictionary, is an object that stands for something in addition to its literal meaning. In the book, there is a continual breakdown of society and civilization on the island. During this breakdown, Golding uses symbolism to further explain the process. Some of the things he symbolizes in the novel are the island itself, the conch, the boys clothing, and the violence.
In the book “ Lord of the Flies” William Golding shows that human nature is basically evil through the symbolism he uses. The entire novel is full of hidden meaning, and many of the items and people are facets of human nature. The preponderance of the symbols represent either virtuous or wicked characteristics, and because the theme of the novel is evil human nature, the symbols that represent evil become more prevalent than the ones that represent estimable traits. The symbols that represent good properties include: the conch and the platform. The representations that have evil connotations are: the Pig’s head and the beast.
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.