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החיה, בין אם היא אמיתית ובין היא מדומה, היא איום על החברה שנוצרה על האי, ומוחזקת ככזו על ידי כולם למעט סיימון. איום זה הנו בתחילה גורם מאחד אך לאחר מכן גורם מפריד, שכן הוא גורם לחלק לחפש מקלט בשבט הפראי ובכוח הזרוע. ג'ק הוא מניפולטור, והוא משתמש בחיה כגורם המצריך את שליטתו (של ג'ק). כך בדיוק משתמשים משטרים רודניים בפרופוגנדה, על ידי הטמעת אימה, פחד, וצייתנות באוכולסיותיהם.
בהקשר שבו נכתב הספר, החיה (או האם הנשקף ממנה) הוא האיום מפני בריה"מ. המחבר מתריע מלאומנות, מיליטנטיות, וקעקוע המוסדות הדמוקרטיים בשל חשש מאוימים חיצוניים.
''''טקסט נטוי''''===הקונכית===
Piggy and Ralph first find the conch in Chapter 1. It represents civilization and democracy. Ralph first blows the conch to call all the other boys on the island together to form a civilization. All the boys then vote him as the leader because he called them together.
The boys then use the conch as a right to speak.
"Ralph smiled and held up the conch for silence."
Throughout the novel, Piggy holds on to the conch and encourages Ralph and others to use it at times when Piggy feels that civilization is being lost.
In Chapter 11, Ralph, Piggy and Sam 'n Eric arrive at Castle Rock to claim Piggy's glasses. Ralph again tries the conch one more time to bring the "savages" back to form a civilization. However this fails, and instead Ralph argues with Jack. Piggy tries one more time to use the conch as a right to speak. Finally, at the height of this arguement, Roger levers a boulder off the rock which kills Piggy and smashes the conch. "The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist". Therefore, all hope of civilization is lost.
Ralph and Piggy discover the conch shell on the beach at the start of the novel and use it to summon the boys together after the crash separates them. Used in this capacity, the conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order in the novel. The shell effectively governs the boys’ meetings, for the boy who holds the shell holds the right to speak. In this regard, the shell is more than a symbol—it is an actual vessel of political legitimacy and democratic power. As the island civilization erodes and the boys descend into savagery, the conch shell loses its power and influence among them, which is mirrored by its physical condition. As the story progresses the conch begins to loose its colour as it's influence (and hence civilization in general) begins to wan, all the way until it becomes colourless before it is finally destroyed. Ralph clutches the shell desperately when he talks about his role in murdering Simon. Later, the other boys ignore Ralph and throw stones at him when he attempts to blow the conch in Jack’s camp. The boulder that Roger rolls onto Piggy also crushes the conch shell, signifying the demise of the civilized instinct among almost all the boys on the island.
=== האש ===
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