Conch Shell In Lord Of The Flies Symbolism Essay

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In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, three young British boys are stranded on a deserted island and are desperate to survive. Symbolism is used in literature to represent figurative speech, when an object, person, or situation has a different meaning than its literal meaning. From the beginning of the book to the end, Ralph realizes that he cannot hold everyone together in one group and he will have to start thinking of mostly everything for himself. The symbols that are seen throughout the novel are the conch shell, the beast, and the spear.
The first symbol from Lord of the Flies is the conch shell. The conch shell is what Piggy finds when the plane crashes to gather the boys together, but later on the Ralph becomes chief and is in control of the conch shell. The conch shell represents leadership, which means taking action of a team or an organization. The conch shell lets everyone during the meeting have a say of what they do on the island, but people can only talk during the meeting if they are holding the shell. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (181). After the conch shell breaks, the assembly breaks and Ralph had to face through a civil war. The conch shell breaking symbolizes that when …show more content…

The spear Jack and his hunters use to kill pigs and humans symbolizes savage nature. “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore, there were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeths and claws” (153). Ralph realized that he is getting targeted to be killed by Jack because Jack has become focused on hunting and Ralph focused more on the fire, which is the best way of getting saved. The deeper meaning of the spear is after people are being removed from society humans will quickly revert back to natural

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