Conch In Lord Of The Flies
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is an influential novel which reveals the darkness of mankind and evil inside of all humans. Lord of the Flies is set in the early 20th century, during a time when Europe is under attack and surrounded by war. For this reason, a plane carrying a group of British schoolboys is flown away from the chaos in hopes of bringing the boys to safety. Suddenly, the airliner is mistaken for a military aircraft and taken down. After all of the pandemonium the boys soon realize that they are the only survivors. Now stranded on an unknown island, the boys must govern themselves. Soon the burning desire for power overthrows their civilized approach of leadership as a deciding factor tears the boys apart. Golding effectively
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During the exposition of the novel Ralph and Piggy discover the conch and soon begin to understand its role on the island. Ralph shouts, “We can use this to call others. Have a meeting,[...]” (Golding 16). This quote shows how the conch is used to assemble the boys and make things civilized. Later on in the story, the conch is used to allow one person to speak at a time. The older boys are usually the ones eager to speak over another, so the conch begins to be seen as something more than a shell; the conch soon begins to represent power and authority. Further on in the story, the boys have divided between Jack and Ralph, in this example they are arguing when suddenly Roger releases a boulder onto Piggy. According to the text, “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). This quote shows how Rogers inner demons took over and in this situation, which ultimately led him to killing Piggy and destroying the shell. The symbolism of the conch is shown in this situation due to the fact that Roger was taking action to destroy the object of authority, which kept the boys together and civilized. This here conveys that what was happening around Roger had an effect on his actions. All in all, the symbol of the conch is used throughout the story in order to reveal the theme of how difficult situations reveal the demons inside of
During the exposition of the novel Ralph and Piggy discover the conch and soon begin to understand its role on the island. Ralph shouts, “We can use this to call others. Have a meeting,[...]” (Golding 16). This quote shows how the conch is used to assemble the boys and make things civilized. Later on in the story, the conch is used to allow one person to speak at a time. The older boys are usually the ones eager to speak over another, so the conch begins to be seen as something more than a shell; the conch soon begins to represent power and authority. Further on in the story, the boys have divided between Jack and Ralph, in this example they are arguing when suddenly Roger releases a boulder onto Piggy. According to the text, “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). This quote shows how Rogers inner demons took over and in this situation, which ultimately led him to killing Piggy and destroying the shell. The symbolism of the conch is shown in this situation due to the fact that Roger was taking action to destroy the object of authority, which kept the boys together and civilized. This here conveys that what was happening around Roger had an effect on his actions. All in all, the symbol of the conch is used throughout the story in order to reveal the theme of how difficult situations reveal the demons inside of