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If one were to look up the word civilization in Webster’s Dictionary, the definition would read something like this, “An advanced stage of social and political organization”. Civilized behavior means to be aware of your surroundings and to care for them, sacrificing certain pleasures to attain them, and to help others. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, it is the conch that represents this parliamentary order and democracy. It signifies the rules and discipline of the boys on the island, and is their last reminder and hope of civilization. It is clear that throughout the novel, this sacred and powerful object looses its values and importance as the boys enter a stage of savagery. At the beginning of the novel, it was Ralph who was proclaimed Chief, as he possessed the conch, which was used to call them all to an assembly, so to them it somewhat symbolized the power and order among them. "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 powerful, there was the conch" (p. 24). It was the object in his ha