In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys is stranded on an island. During this time, the minors lack any sort of adult supervision. The boys take this opportunity to build a structured society amongst themselves. However, the lack of guidance and direction results in their descent into savagery and loss of civilization. Throughout this novel, symbols are often used to convey the boys’ ever changing behaviours, and their levels of control and lack thereof. In Lord of the Flies, symbols are used to indicate the theme of the eternal struggle between good and evil.
The most notable symbol in this novel is the conch. The conch is a pale white and pink shell that the main character Ralph finds on his first day on the island. He immediately uses it to gather the lost boys, thus giving the conch its image of authority and power. “‘We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting.’” (Golding 12) Piggy suggests Ralph uses the conch to bring the survivors together, giving it a positive reputation. At the start, the conch symbolizes strength, leadership, control, and fairness. It is used in meetings to determine who is allowed to speak, and the boys rely on it to keep them in order. Because of this, the boys are making a constant choice to obey the symbol of the conch. They routinely decide to use the clarity, and newfound power of the conch for good. However as the …show more content…
The three most important ones; the conch, the island, and the fire; may have initially been positive impacts, but by the end of the novel all three proved negative. These things are used to symbolize not only the boys’ conscious choices, but also their deep rooted notions of good and bad. The boys behaviours themselves are not enough to express the eternal struggle between good and evil, symbols are biggest indication of