The Conch Shell In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

The conch shell is spotted by Ralph and Piggy at the beginning of the novel, and is used to call upon the other boys that are on the island, at the recommendation of Piggy. As it is used to call for meetings, the conch quickly comes to represent civilization and order in the novel. The conch also play a role in dictating the meetings by giving the boy in possession of it the right to speak. The conch transcends being a symbol and becomes a physical moderator of democracy, and adds legitimacy to the boy’s small political system. Ralph’s attachment to the conch is what gets him elected as chief, because the other boys see him as the person behind the conch of law and order. When the boys begin their descent into savagery and lose their civility,
It also looks into the methods and ideals that humans use to overpower the evil within themselves, and whether or not these methods and ideals are successful in doing so. With Golding’s use of allegory in the novel, the reader is able to understand what Golding believes to be true about human nature. Golding has stated that is novel was his attempt at discovering the reasons behind the defectiveness of society by tracing it back to the flaws of human nature. Golding has also written that the theme of the novel is complete and utter grief as shown by the last scene depicting the boys weeping for the loss of their innocence and the inevitability of the evil inside every human. The boy’s realization of evil existing within them is an important one, and one that is only initially understood by Simon. The Lord of the Flies, when talking to Simon, mocks the boys’ efforts to externalize the evil within them in the Beast, thinking of it as something that can be hunted and killed. The revelation takes the boys by surprise, because they had never suspected evil to be among them until they saw it in each other. The boys unknowingly desired violence and developed a need to dominate others, and they found that they in doing these actions they gained a rush a pleasure and power. When they got a taste of the evil that they were capable of, the boys chose to
Literary critics have even thought the novel to be retellings of the Bible, which is somewhat of a an over exaggeration, but the novel does reflect images and themes from the Bible. However, Golding does not directly reference or mention the Bible in the novel, but the reader can detect the biblical parallels that appear throughout the novel. The island, specifically the glade, resembles the Garden of Eden in the sense that it is initially beautiful and pure until it is destroyed evil and forbidden desires. The Lord of the Flies has been interpreted as a representation of the devil or Satan, because it induces and encourages evil into the minds of the boys. The name “Lord of the Flies” stems from the literal translation of Beelzebub, who was a demon in hell so powerful that some thought him to be the devil himself. Many critics have found strong resemblance between Simon and Jesus, because when Simon discovers the the truth about human nature, he is killed by the others for his discovery of the truth. The dialogue between Simon and the Lord of the Flies is also similar to the conversation between Jesus and Satan in the wilderness. Simon also converses with the Lord of the Flies in the wilderness, which has come to be a symbol of hell. However, Simon cannot be viewed to be exactly