The Lord Of The Flies Conch Analysis

William Golding was once quoted to genuinely believe in the power of a positive democratic future. In the novel The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, he has a character called Jack who supports totalitarianism and a character called Ralph who supports liberal democracy. These themes are shown throughout the novel but are most prevalent with the power of the conch, with the importance of the signal fire and the fight over Piggy’s glasses. That is why totalitarianism versus liberal democracy is a main theme, and why throughout the tale, Golding seems to favour liberal democracy.

The power of the conch, the biggest symbol throughout the book is what has gathered all these boys together in the first place. The conch represents liberal democracy, in that it gave everyone rights to what they can and cannot do - it is what put civilization and order on the island. The conch also

Piggy’s glasses represented the power of knowledge and intellectual discovery in society. This is shown when they discovered they can use the lens on his glasses to focus the sunlight on the tinder and create a fire. Jack began to corrupt society with his action of breaking one of Piggy’s lenses leaving him with one less eye to see with, but also showing that his totalitarian belief can render one such as Piggy hopeless. Jack’s belief also led to corruption when Piggy no longer had his glasses, after they were stolen by Jack and his tribe, which led to complete chaos. This resulted in Piggy’s death after Roger dropped a boulder on his head while he could not see. In retrospect Piggy’s glasses have represented the corruption caused by totalitarian belief by showing the amount of oppression towards him and others such as