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.
In William Golding's novel, "Lord of the Flies", a group of English schoolboys are deserted on an island where their plane has crashed. The boys form what they can of civilization based on a conch shell. The conch serves as the greatest source of power available to the boys as they must survive through the society they have created themselves.
The conch shell serves as a physical object of power to the boys. The boys must create a plan, or some sort of system of survival in order to get though their struggles together. The conch is discovered by Ralph and Piggy and they first use it to gather all of the boys around the island. This is the first way the conch is used as a way to unite the children. The conch symbolizing unity is important because unity is what they need to establish first before a civilization is built. The conch represents the foundation of the mini-civilization. The conch is also used as a symbol of power. The conch determines who holds power at a given moment. During the boys' meetings, the conch is used to control thoughts and ideas by giving the person holding it the power to share their voice. The order that the conch brought to the secluded society represents the democratic system that had been subtly put into place. However, similar to a democracy, when the rules are not obeyed, chaos breaks loose and the democracy falls apart. This trend is demonstrated in "Lord of the Flies" when the civilization begins to fall apart and the conch looses its power. The unity the shell once brought is now destroyed because of the barbaric behavior of the boys. The shell no longer has the influence and control it once had on the boys. The final destruction of society is when the conch shell is crushed by one who once believed in the power of the shell. The conch shell is constantly being referred to in this novel because of the importance it served to the success of the boys. The foundation of the boys' had been ruined, just like their attempt at civilization.
Good essay, I just have a few suggestions. The prompt says to discuss two or three symbols of the object, which you certainly do, but you only mention it being a symbol of power in your thesis. I think it would be better if you mentioned how the conch also serves to unify the boys in the thesis. Since you talk about that already in the main argument, it should be part of the thesis too. Also, separate into paragraphs if possible, I realize it may just be the formatting of the blog, but the huge block of text is intimidating.
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ReplyDeleteI think this is a good basis for your essay but I think you could go a bit further with it. I agree with Greg in that you might want to try to incorporate other purposes of the conch shell. Although power is a very good example, the prompt does ask for more than one and I think there are a lot of other great options. Also, make sure to watch out for typos (such as "though" instead of "through"), repetition of words, and formatting your paragraphs.
ReplyDeleteAlso my last comment was supposed to go on another page so disregard that if it didn't delete.
First off - look at structure. I don't think it was a good idea to split this essay into two paragraphs. While the first gives a thesis, the next one turns into a mess as you try to make points and a conclusion without clear transitions between your sections.
ReplyDeleteNext off, I would add MORE points. The conch shell has various meanings/representations -- it is NOT a static object. As such, I would encourage that you add further interpretations of the object, which support your thesis, so as to create a stronger essay overall.