Lord of the Flies Symbols

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Symbols in Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies has many symbolic things that appear throughout the novel that have a deeper meaning then what they are portrayed as in the story. Three of those symbolic meanings are the conch shell, the actual Lord of the Flies and the beast. This essay will highlight and give an insightful view on these symbolic meanings. In Lord of the Flies the conch shell the boys find and use plays a huge part to do with their sanity. The shell is used as a tool for the boys to get together for meetings and effectively express their opinions by the rule of whoever holds it has the right to speak. This is proven when Golding says, “They obeyed the summons of the conch, partly because Ralph blew it, and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority….” (Golding, pg 50). Another is when Ralph says “Whoever holds the conch gets to speak.” When Piggy says “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting…” (Golding, pg 12). The conch symbolizes power because whoever gets to hold it has the “political” power to voice their opinion amongst the islands civilization. As the novel progresses, the conch becomes less important and powerful due to the boys savagery. This theme of savagery becomes a huge problem with the boys and leads to the conch to being crushed by a boulder, which really proves that the sense of civilized living is gone. This shows just how much of an important symbol the conch is in the novel and was the only thing left of the boys’ sanity. Another important symbol in the novel is the actual “Lord of the Flies”, which is a severed sow’s head that Jack stuck on a stake in offering to the beast. The head becomes the most important symbol in the novel, because it branches off into other very symbolic figures and ideas. It becomes a physical presence of the beast, a symbol of evil and a demon-like
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