Literary Focus Tracker (2)

I have been keeping track of symbolic objects throughout LOTF. The three keys elements I'll be talking about are (1) The importance of the shell from the beginning, (2)being chief-what it means, and (3) the femininity of the pink. The first element is the importance of the shell. “While the most obvious leader was Jack. But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch." (22). This showed that the conch basically elected Ralph as leader. Next, “Ralph smiled and held up the conch for silence.” (23). The conch made a crowd of boys quiet. this is an incredible accomplishment and it's all because of a shell. The importance of this shell began to go downhill when Jack began to break off from Ralph's rule. “‘We don’t need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things. What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or Walter? It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us.’” (101-102).
The next key element is the meaning of chief. Being chief, to Jack and Ralph, are two different things. Jack thinks being chief is to hunt and sing, while Ralph is all about keeping the fire going. “‘I ought to be chief,’ said Jack with simple arrogance, ‘because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.’” (22). Whereas Ralph believes otherwise. “‘The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t keep a fire going?’” (80). This ends in a dispute and separation of ways.
The third concept to look at is the significance of pink on the island. Pink represents the feminine quality of this book. If you've noticed the amount of pink on the island, you may just think there's pink because it's a coral island, but the pink also shows some feminine quality. One example would be, “The most usual feature of the rock was a pink cliff surmounted by a skewed block; and that again surmounted, and that again, till the pinkness became a stack of balanced rock projecting through the looped fantasy of the forest creepers. Where the pink cliffs rose out of the ground there were often narrow tracks winding upwards.” (26). The whole island seems to be pink.
Those are three of many symbolic objects.