The Conch Shell Symbols In Lord Of The Flies

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In Survivor, strangers are put together to live on a desert island so that they can win money. In Lord of the Flies, schoolboys crashland and must learn how to survive on an island: “They're all dead,’ said Piggy, ‘and this is an island. Nobody don't know we’re here. Your dad don't know, nobody don't know.. We may stay here until we die” (14). Just like in Survivor, these boys start to form groups that clash and create conflict as there are two groups that have different goals, interests and beliefs on how they want to live. It’s a struggle to live and be rescued, in both cases. Lord of the Flies is also similar to Peter Pan. Children who were once civilized become savage due to no adults or social structure on an island. Similarly both have …show more content…
The conch shell symbolizes the rule of law and civilization. It's used to call assemblies and grants the right to speak to whoever holds it. The glasses symbolize the ability to see and understand things clearly. While on the island the boys use Piggy's glasses to make fire, however Jack asks ends up breaking them: “Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy's head. Piggy's glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks” (71). The cracking of the glasses symbolizes the boys losing sight of what's right and their humanity crumbling away. The Lord of The Flies is the pig's head that Jack sticks on a stick in the forest as a sacrifice to the beast. In one chapter Simon imagines the Lord of the Flies speaking to him explaining the nature of evil, “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!’ Said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter” (143). The head symbolizes the evil that lies within every person. As it tells Simon that no one can escape it, and that the boys will have fun on the …show more content…
He shows this by slowing advancing the characters and by the end there is no compassion or reasonability left in the boys: “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 just the tearing of teeth and claws” (153). While the boys fear the "beast" and think it's an evil beast here to eat them, they are wrong, however this fear of the beast fuels the boys' cruel and violent behavior. In our life the beast is an internal force, the evil inside you and that is inside
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