How does William Golding present the theme of savagery and civilisation in the Lord of the Flies? Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel written by William Golding. An allegorical novel is where characters and objects within the text can have real life representations or meanings. For example, Golding uses the conch to represent the backbone of civilisation and order on the island. In the first assembly, the boys participate in an election for leader; “the toy of voting was almost as pleasing as the conch”, a democratic and civilised act in itself. After being elected Ralph sets a few rules, “we can’t have everyone speaking at once. We’ll have to have hands up like at school” – therefore in assemblies in order to speak you must be in possession of the conch. This quote suggests that the schoolboys have to refer back to the civilised world for their discipline. From the phrase “hands up like at school” we get the impression the boys are incapable of maintaining order and society themselves so they have to relate back to methods enforced and applied back in Britain. The conch, being found early on in the novel, is very important to keep order and power over the boys; order, because it is used to call the assemblies. Early in the novel, after the first assembly, we are introduced to the idea of the signal fire. But in
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