REVISED 1970 Also. Choose a work of recognized literary merit in which a specific inanimate object (e.g., a seashell, a handkerchief, a painting) is important, and write an essay in which you show how two or three of the purposes the object serves are related to one another.

REVISED Golding's novel The Lord of the Flies contains disturbing illusions about the innate nature of humans, among them the idea that culture is just a gloss over of savagery. Throughout the novel, the stranded boys use a conch shell to communicate. The conch shell is a symbol representing a tool of civilization, and its fall from respect is in of itself a symbol of the boys' return to savagery.

Upon first being stranded, the boys call each other together by blowing the conch. Here, the conch functions as a means of communication, as the boys cannot assemble if they do not know where the others are. It is a seemingly-wild symbol turned into a cultural one of order and of cooperation. Further cooperation takes place when the boys recognize the right to speak by whoever holds the conch. It is also a tool of political power, used to hold together a loose system of rule and order. Golding continuously implies through those physical functions that the conch's purpose is that of keeping a structured order, akin to government.

The conch's orderly cultural purposes become less and less effective as the boys lose their civilized behaviors. This erodes the previous cooperation, communication, and political power among them. When the boys become savage, the conch is no longer effective. This is furthered symbolized when it is smashed by the boulder, which was itself a product of savage acts. Golding conveys themes of The Lord of the Flies through such symbolisms and functions. The sybolism of the conch shell work to contribute to the boy's fall from grace.