Lord of the Flies*(Underline title of Book~!*).
Lord of the Flies,is a story about several young boys who left England during an atomic war at an unspecified time in the future. These boys land on an island in a passenger tube which manages to drop off the flaming airplane. The island is much like a microcosm of the real world. They experience many of the antagonisms of the world they came from. But Without the natural guidance of adults, the natural evilness within the boys corrupts them. The plot shows Golding's major theme,* being that evilness is an inborn characteristic of a person that will take over when not restricted by their society. Golding uses symbolism to express his themes of the story. This is shown throughout the pages of this book. A conspicuous and significant symbol is the one shown from the conch shell found by the boys. .
The conch has numerous meanings,*(runon) but at the beginning of the story, it is often used to express the idea of authority. After the boys land on the island, they are confused of what to do:* "There aren't any grownups. We shall have to look after ourselves"(32). Their new surroundings create a bewilderment of what the boys should do. At this time, Ralph finds a conch shell, which Piggy tells him to make a loud noise. When Ralph blows the conch, all the boys make their way to him. Before long, the boys decide that a leader must be chosen. The boys shout, "Him with the shell. Ralph! Ralph! Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing" (22). Thus, from the beginning of the story, the boys accept the conch as the symbol of authority and control. They soon establish a rule that whoever holds the conch will be able to speak. It seems as though the conch would be their only means of control and containment. At first,* the conch is bright and shiny in appearance* It seems as though to be but very fragile and can be easily broken. Later on in the novel, we see that the conch is not as it seems at the beginning of the novel.