Lord Of The Flies Conch Analysis
In the novel, the destruction of the conch successfully depicts the conflict between human impulses and demands of a structured society while the boys are disconnected from that society. At the start, the boys look to the conch, and Ralph, for authority: “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...” (61). The stranded boys adhere to the rules of the conch as it symbolizes social order of the society they are separated from. Though as time goes on and as the boys gradually disconnect from civilization. As Jack’s tribe savagely murder Piggy, they also destroy the conch, and it “exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (200). The
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When Jack and his hunters fail to continue the fire, Ralph calls an emergency meeting and stresses the importance of the fire by saying, “The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep a fire going...Don't you understand? Can't you see we ought to - ought to die before we let the fire out?" (86). Ralph and very few others are the only ones who seem to care about the fire and returning to civilization. The act of letting the signal fire out is highly symbolic of the boys’ rejection of society; Jack’s hunters care more for satisfying their blood instinct than they do for rescue. Even Ralph, who was determined to keep the fire going and get rescued, starts to lose hope; when talking to Piggy, Ralph says, “We can’t keep one fire going. And they don’t care...What’s more, I don’t sometimes” (153). When removed from society, it’s evident through this quote that even the best of people can lose interest in returning to a civilized society as they resort to savagery. The boys’ lack of use of the symbolic signal fire on this isolated location evidently shows the struggles between individual desires and rules of a civilized
When Jack and his hunters fail to continue the fire, Ralph calls an emergency meeting and stresses the importance of the fire by saying, “The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep a fire going...Don't you understand? Can't you see we ought to - ought to die before we let the fire out?" (86). Ralph and very few others are the only ones who seem to care about the fire and returning to civilization. The act of letting the signal fire out is highly symbolic of the boys’ rejection of society; Jack’s hunters care more for satisfying their blood instinct than they do for rescue. Even Ralph, who was determined to keep the fire going and get rescued, starts to lose hope; when talking to Piggy, Ralph says, “We can’t keep one fire going. And they don’t care...What’s more, I don’t sometimes” (153). When removed from society, it’s evident through this quote that even the best of people can lose interest in returning to a civilized society as they resort to savagery. The boys’ lack of use of the symbolic signal fire on this isolated location evidently shows the struggles between individual desires and rules of a civilized