In the novel Lord of the Flies by British author William Golding, symbolism and setting play a key role in story development. Symbolism was used throughout the novel when a feeling or a concept was given a physical shape in an inanimate object. Some of these symbols included the conch shell, Piggy's glasses, fire and the painted masks. As the story developed, the meaning of these objects changed significantly in co-ordinance with the events of the novel. Setting played a big role in this story; there were three main parts to the island. The beach represented good, the jungle held all the evil as well as the Lord of the Flies, and finally nothing grew or lived on the mountains, which were not important until the end of the novel. The development of theme in the Lord of the Flies by use of symbolism and setting is clearly evident.
             Throughout the novel the meaning and purpose of the symbols changed. In the very first chapter of the story, the conch was found on the beach. Then Piggy and Ralph, two of the main characters, decided to blow it to help bring the rest of the boys to where they were. For this reason, the conch represents unity. From that day on the boys used the conch to call meetings and the holder of the conch had the power and freedom to speak and every else had to listen. As the story progressed, this right was abused, especially when Piggy tried to speak and Jack told him to "shut up." At the end of the book when Jack is on the run from Ralph's tribe, he thinks to himself "there was no solemn assembly for debate nor dignity of the conch." This shows us how much the boys depended on the conch during times of crisis. At the same time in the story when the conch began to loose power, Jack's painted face mask begins it's ascension to power as the most powerful symbol on the island behind the fire. The first time he created the mask it was stated that the mask "... was a thing ...