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Symbolism In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

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Symbolism In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding
The Role of Symbolism in Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies is a classic novel written by William Golding in 1954. It is a story of a group of boys whose plane crashes on an island. Three of the boys, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack, are separated from the pack as the true leaders. It started off civilized and orderly, but slowly spiraled into chaos. Piggy and Ralph worked together and cooperated to try to get rescued along with some other boys, yet Jack decided to turn against them and lead his own pack of savages. As Golding writes the story, you can tell he is a master of literary elements. The most important of these elements is symbolism. The three main characters are each distinguished by their symbols. Ralph and his conch represent civilization and the importance of
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Piggy and his spectacles represent the connection to technology and science. And finally Jack and his knife represent the power and violence within a government. The knowledge of symbolism is vital to be able to understand this book.

The conch plays a very important duty in Lord of the Flies because of how it creates a democratic society for the kids. At the beginning of the book, Ralph and Piggy are venturing around when they find a spot the conch in the lagoon. On page 13, Piggy says, “‘S’Right. It’s a Shell! I seen one like that before. On someone’s back wall. A conch he called it. He used to blow it and then his mum would come. It’s ever so valuable----’”. This quote by Piggy proves that in the future the Conch will be used as a tool to bring the group together. Throughout the book, the conch’s power sways. In the beginning of the book, the conch is seen as a powerful artifact that is used to lead the

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