Lord of the Flies Essay Example for Free

Lord of the Flies Essay A symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. In the book, â€Å" Lord of the Flies† by William Golding, there are many symbols such as the pig’s head, fire, painted faces, and Piggy’s glasses. However one symbol stands out more than the others, the conch. The conch symbolizes order, government, savagery, and even one of the characters called Piggy. Order was one of the main themes that the conch symbolized. When Ralph and Piggy first found the conch Piggy said, â€Å"We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us. † (16). Automatically they find the conch, blow on it, and everyone on the island comes to the platform. This shows that they are trying to have everything be put in order by calling a meeting and discussing everything that is going on, and to discuss how they are going to survive. Another example of order is, â€Å" I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking. We’ll have rules! Lots of rules! † (33). This shows that they want the order of England and of school. When in school, if the students have a question or an answer, they raise their hands and say what they are going to say. Another main theme in this book that the conch symbolizes is government. For example, when they called the meeting Ralph said, â€Å" Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things. † (22). This shows that they want for the island to be like England and have a ruler. The ruler would tell them what is right, what is wrong, and how they should be doing everything. Another example of government is, â€Å" Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing. † (22). The children on the island wanted Ralph to be the chief because he started to lead by just blowing the conch. To the children it showed that he knew what he was doing, and they thought he knew how to go home. The other theme that the conch symbolizes is the savagery. For example, Jack explained. â€Å" I agree with Ralph. We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are best at everything. So we’ve got to do all the right things. † (42). This shows that in the beginning of the book, Jack thinks that they are not savages. The thing is that every human has savagery in them in some way or form. Toward the end of the book when Jack is in the separate tribe, it describes, â€Å" Before the party has started a great log had been dragged into the center of the lawn and Jack, painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol. There were piles of meat on green leaves near him, and fruit, and coconut shells full of drink. † (149). The conch forced Jack to make a separate tribe, because he was tired of taking orders from Ralph. He wanted to be chief so badly that he created a tribe and convinced almost all of the children to go to his side. He provided the children with meat and protection that Ralph didn’t. The conch also symbolized the book’s character of Piggy. An example would be when the plan first crashed and the meeting was not called, Piggy said, â€Å" S’right. It’s a shell! I seen one like that before. On someone’s back wall. A conch he called it. He used to blow it and then his mum would come. It’s ever so valuable. † (15). At the beginning he was the one who discovered the conch. Piggy was also the one to tell Ralph to blow on the conch so that all the children on the island would all meet at the platform. Another example would be one of the main turning points in the book, â€Å" The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from the chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. (181). When Piggy first arrived on the island he found the conch, and when Piggy died the conch died along with him. Once Piggy and the conch were gone, the order of the island was gone as well. The conch was both the leader and the assaciane at the same time. At first the conch was the one who brought the tribe together. It provided order and a sense of government on the island. However, in the end in was the one to tear everyone apart. It created Jack to act as a savage and for him to create a whole new tribe to torture Ralph. Once the conch exploded all the order and the government went with it, and out came the savage in everyone. In the end they even get rescued because of the conch. When the conch exploded into pieces, Jack’s tribe went to go find Ralph to kill him. Jack set the whole island on fire to smoke Ralph out to kill him. By setting the island on fire the smoke could be seen from miles away. The navy was able to see the smoke and they came to rescued the children. Isn’t it ironic. The whole time Ralph talked about the fire being the main priority, and in the end Jack’s fire rescued them from the island.