Lord of the Flies
William Golding, in his novel lord of the flies, implies that without the constraints of social order, people would descend into anarchy and chaos. Three examples in the text that demonstrate this idea are the conch, the character of jack, and the deaths of piggy and Simon.
The conch is symbolic of the descent of social order between the boys. The conch is a shell that is capable of making a loud, attention grabbing noise, Piggy describes this noise by saying it “moo-ed like a cow”. It symbolizes order between the boys and was used to call attention. When ralph used the conch to call the other boys for a meeting, it gave him a sense of leadership and then granted Ralph the title of chief. The symbolization of the conch was first demonstrated through the calling of the meeting. The first thing the boys learned on that island was that when they hear the conch, they find or pay attention to whoever is blowing it. They knew to respect whoever had the conch, whether that person was simply presenting an idea to the group, or calling a meeting. The conch then transition into a talking stick, meaning who ever has it, has the right of every ones respect. The boys however take advantage of this, and the conch is passed around and fought for so much that it starts to lose its symbol of power. From pages 194- 195, ralph has to announce three times that he is calling an assembly, yet no one comes to him. This shows the conch has sure lost its power, symbolizing the boys have also sure lost their instincts and morals. They no longer have social order or any sort of hierarchy. When piggy dies, any civilization and order left on the island dies too. Piggy was the symbol of law and order of the adult world; he was the superego, the part of a man’s personality which attempts to act accordingly to an absolute set of standards.
Jack represents chaos. From the beginning of the novel it is clear that jack does not cooperate well with social order, and his need for opposition
The conch is symbolic of the descent of social order between the boys. The conch is a shell that is capable of making a loud, attention grabbing noise, Piggy describes this noise by saying it “moo-ed like a cow”. It symbolizes order between the boys and was used to call attention. When ralph used the conch to call the other boys for a meeting, it gave him a sense of leadership and then granted Ralph the title of chief. The symbolization of the conch was first demonstrated through the calling of the meeting. The first thing the boys learned on that island was that when they hear the conch, they find or pay attention to whoever is blowing it. They knew to respect whoever had the conch, whether that person was simply presenting an idea to the group, or calling a meeting. The conch then transition into a talking stick, meaning who ever has it, has the right of every ones respect. The boys however take advantage of this, and the conch is passed around and fought for so much that it starts to lose its symbol of power. From pages 194- 195, ralph has to announce three times that he is calling an assembly, yet no one comes to him. This shows the conch has sure lost its power, symbolizing the boys have also sure lost their instincts and morals. They no longer have social order or any sort of hierarchy. When piggy dies, any civilization and order left on the island dies too. Piggy was the symbol of law and order of the adult world; he was the superego, the part of a man’s personality which attempts to act accordingly to an absolute set of standards.
Jack represents chaos. From the beginning of the novel it is clear that jack does not cooperate well with social order, and his need for opposition