How Are We Civilize In Lord Of The Flies

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Every human is born with a savage side. Depending on the conditions of the person's life, the savage may or may not be released. In William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, he shows us that when the idea of civilization is lost, humans are faced with the challenge to remain civilized but they often turn to savagery. The plot of Lord of the Flies, Ralph's character development, and the conch symbol in the book prove this point. William Golding's plot of Lord of the Flies helps develop the idea without civilization, humans will revert to savagery. For example, in Lord of the Flies, a plane with a group of young boys on board crashes on an island with no parents or adults. During the initial days on the island, the boys are still innocent …show more content…

As we know, the boys in Lord of the Flies used the conch to call meetings and maintain order on the island. "'And another thing. We can't have everybody talking at once. We'll have to have 'Hands up' like at school."' He held the conch before his face and glanced round the mouth. "'Then I'll give him the conch."' "''Conch?'" '"That's what this shell's called. I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking"' (33). This quote shows the boys planning on using the conch for order. This evidence shows us that civilization can exist on the island. This is true because the boys all still have a civilized base from their time in society before the crash telling them what is right and wrong. With this base, it is possible they could have maintained law and order on the island. The conch managed to maintain order on the island for a small amount of time until it broke, representing the total end of civilization on the island. "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist" (181). This is a quotation of the symbolistic conch shell breaking, ending civilization on the island for good. The conch shell in Lord of the Flies shows us that when the idea of civilization is lost, humans are faced with the challenge to remain civilized but they often turn to savagery. This is true because the conch shell represented civilization and it worked as tool to obtain law and order on the island, but when it broke, it symbolized the total turn to savagery. The conch shell breaking ended the chances of law and order ever resurfacing on the island. Overall, the conch shell symbolizes civilization in Lord of the Flies. Therefore, the destruction of the shell symbolized the end of

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