Lord of the Flies Speech, Power and Authority

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ENGLISH SPEECH – TERM 3 - 2013 You’ve just been named your school captain, you decide to shake things up a little, do you do something for the benefit of everyone, or just the benefit of you? This is the choice of the path of power or authority that William Golding presents in his novel Lord of the Flies. Golding uses his novel to draw attention to the chaos and atrocity experienced in society in the midst of world war two. Throughout the novel the reader experiences a deeper understanding of power and authority through extensive use of symbolism. The conch, Jack’s knife and Piggy’s glasses are such symbols representing Golding’s perception of the Second World War through metaphoric figures. Golding emphasizes through the symbols in this novel the clash of good and evil and his point of view that every person as part of the nature of being human has a bad side that thrives to take over that of the good. Symbolism in “Lord of the Flies” is better applied to reality through Golding’s use of characterization. On the island the conch represents the law and order of the British society the boy’s had come from. The conch is governing authority, keeping those desperate for power under law and giving one the opportunity to speak ones mind as only the person holding the conch is permitted to speak, “Let him have the conch!” shouts Piggy. “Let him have it!”. Golding utilizes the character of Ralph to embody, law and order and democracy through him admonishing one of the “biguns” to let a “littleun” have a chance to speak. In the beginning of the novel the younger boys contributed greatly to the election of Ralph as chief. In Lord of the Flies, the conch is blown to announce to the group that it is time to hold an assembly at the platform to discuss things of importance such as the building and maintenance of the signal fire, the hunting and capture of pigs and the
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