What is the role and significance of the Beast and the Conch in ‘Lord of the flies’
Golding uses many symbols to get across his ideas in ‘Lord of the Flies’ but primarily uses the Beast and the Conch as one of the two main symbols that are essential in the development of the novel itself. The Conch and the Beast represent order vs. chaos that this novel is about so they are very significant and important things in the ways Golding gets his ideas to the reader of Lord of the Flies. The Conch is one of the most powerful and important symbols in the novel and symbolizes democracy and law and order. At the start of the Novel it is used to gather all the boys together who crash landed on the Island. We as human beings have an incline to group together and work together as a society as it is more beneficial for everyone in a society than isolated individuals who can’t get any help from other people. In this way, the Conch brings everyone together and once they are together, society law and order is quickly established through the Conch. This is a very powerful object in the Novel it brought upon a ‘deep harsh note that boomed and spread’ through the forest and the Island. Not only does it form the society in Lord of the Flies but it also is key to law and order being established. In those early Chapters in the Novel you needed to have the Conch ‘to have the right to speak’, the boys take this very seriously as Piggy says ‘You haven’t got the Conch. Here.’ Those interruptions were shouted down when someone was holding the Conch and the Conch also established a profound respect for other people. Sadly though, as the Novel progresses the boys become decreasingly respectful of the Conch as their behaviour and attitudes degenerate towards each other as well. As the novel progresses the Conch seems to have less significance in whose turn it is talk and the role of it is not as important as it was before. This is shown by Jack at about Chapter 8 in the novel saying...
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