Power is a recurring idea in Lord of the Flies by William Goulding, whether it be power from the conch, created out of the idea of hope and the idea of having order in the midst of chaos, or the sow’s head, which was motivated by fear. The conch was with the boys on the island from the start. When they landed on the island, Piggy discovered the conch and Ralph used it to summon any other boys on the island. From holding the conch at the start, Ralph was decided as the “leader.” The rules were set for the conch from then on: whoever holds the conch has their time to speak. While the conch is power through order within chaos, the sow’s head was put on the island to create a sense of fear and result in power over the boys. The sow’s head was
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They feel if they have an object that means power, then it is something they should follow or else the island will evolve into chaos and they will have no order or meaning to anything, with no chance of surviving or being rescued. The idea of hope that the conch gives off aids the boys with a feeling of protection. While the conch had the boys thrive on power emitted from it, it was a symbol of power that was, in all honesty, meaningless. It was the boys who created a sense of and the idea of power that was coming from the conch. They had a unified agreement that the conch equaled power, but at a certain point they stop agreeing, which caused the conch to lose its power over the group of boys. After the tribe splitting into two and getting into many disagreements, Ralph realized the conch is meaningless to blow and will have no affect. “If I blow the conch and they don’t come back, then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued.” (Goulding, 92) Ralph knows that the only way he can maintain the power of the conch in his hands is if rather than using it, he doesn’t. The conch was broken, along with the power that came with it, after Roger hurls it off a cliff. Once the conch was shattered, it created the idea that “power” over the boys was lost and is now an open position, and Jack was determined to earn it and yelled to …show more content…
The order resulting from the conch kept the boys in a stable position, making them feel more protected and feel like their chances of being rescued were better, but those feelings were shattered once the conch was gone. With the sow’s head, all of the boys were driven by fear and acted quick to their senses, hastily making decisions without considering the results that could come with their actions. The boys were pushed by fear and adrenaline to follow the power given by the pig’s head. In The Lord of the Flies, good ended up overpowering evil in the final chapter, even without the help of the conch or sow’s head, and the boys came together and finally were rescued from the
They feel if they have an object that means power, then it is something they should follow or else the island will evolve into chaos and they will have no order or meaning to anything, with no chance of surviving or being rescued. The idea of hope that the conch gives off aids the boys with a feeling of protection. While the conch had the boys thrive on power emitted from it, it was a symbol of power that was, in all honesty, meaningless. It was the boys who created a sense of and the idea of power that was coming from the conch. They had a unified agreement that the conch equaled power, but at a certain point they stop agreeing, which caused the conch to lose its power over the group of boys. After the tribe splitting into two and getting into many disagreements, Ralph realized the conch is meaningless to blow and will have no affect. “If I blow the conch and they don’t come back, then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued.” (Goulding, 92) Ralph knows that the only way he can maintain the power of the conch in his hands is if rather than using it, he doesn’t. The conch was broken, along with the power that came with it, after Roger hurls it off a cliff. Once the conch was shattered, it created the idea that “power” over the boys was lost and is now an open position, and Jack was determined to earn it and yelled to …show more content…
The order resulting from the conch kept the boys in a stable position, making them feel more protected and feel like their chances of being rescued were better, but those feelings were shattered once the conch was gone. With the sow’s head, all of the boys were driven by fear and acted quick to their senses, hastily making decisions without considering the results that could come with their actions. The boys were pushed by fear and adrenaline to follow the power given by the pig’s head. In The Lord of the Flies, good ended up overpowering evil in the final chapter, even without the help of the conch or sow’s head, and the boys came together and finally were rescued from the