Lord of the Flies Q&A

Jack, Roger, and the other hunters kill a pig and mount its head on top of a stick. They erect that stick in the forest as an offering for the beast. Physically, that head is called the Lord of the Flies. There is blood coming out of the head that attracts a swarm of buzzling flies. Simon hallucinates that the Lord of the Flies talks to him. The Lord of the Flies symbolizes the evil inside the boys on the island.

A conch is a type of mollusk with different colored shells in the shape of a spiral. It can be used as a trumpet if blown into from one side. In this novel, the conch is used to call meetings and specify whose turn it is to speak. Whoever has the conch can speak whatever he wants, and everyone else must listen to him and wait for their turn to speak. Hence, the conch represents democracy and freedom of speech. At the end of the novel, the conch is easily broken, representing the fragility of democracy and pointing to the fact that democracy requires protection by all participants.

From the beginning, Ralph and Jack are in conflict over the leadership position. Jack disagrees with Ralph not only about his position as leader but also his way of leading everyone. Moreover, Ralph and Jack have different priorities. Jack always prefers hunting, while Ralph believes that building huts for shelter and maintaining the signal fire are more important tasks. In chapter eight, Ralph mocks Jack and his hunters, saying that they are just boys with sticks. Jack gets offended, calls him coward, and asks everyone to choose him as leader instead. When no one supports him, he leaves the camp, saying that he will not return and anyone can join him for hunt. Most of the biguns lured by the hunt join him, and he makes his own tribe.

Yes, they are rescued from the island by a navy warship. Ralph always insisted on the importance of the signal fire and believed that it would attract a rescuer. Although his small fire cannot attract any rescuer, the huge fire that Jack sets in the forest to scare Ralph attracts the attention of a navy warship. They send a naval officer to check out the situation, and he not only saves Ralph from Jack and his tribe but also saves all of the boys from further violence.

Ralph finds the conch and uses it to call the meeting and gather all the boys on the island. Then, he suggests choosing a chief among them. According to Piggy, Ralph deserves to be chief because it is he who gathered all of the boys and called the meeting. Moreover, the boys realize that he is a natural leader and associate him with civilization. Thus, they choose him as their leader.