In the novel Lord of the Flies, author William Golding tells the story of a group of conservative kids who get stranded on an island after a plane crash. Kids can take care of themselves by finding food, water, and creating a social system to maintain order. The kids had to do it because there were no adults to guide them. The kids make rules to keep everything under control on the island. Ultimately kids break these rules to satisfy their own selfish wants and needs. When the rules are broken, order on the island falls apart and a violent power struggle begins. Lord of the Flies was published during the Cold War era. The Cold War was a struggle for power between Russia and the United States, a dictatorship and a democracy. Just like the power struggle during the Cold War, the novel Lord of the Flies also presents a power struggle between a dictatorship and a democracy. To convey order, Golding uses the conch to symbolize how fragile society and its rules can be. When the boys arrive on the island after a plane crash, they are forced to find a way to keep everything in order and under control. “At first they revel in their freedom and the pleasure of the island” (Saidi, Hasan1). Then the boys start exploring, Ralph and Piggy find a shell on the beach. When Ralph and Piggy first see the conch, Piggy says, "That's right. It's a conch! I've seen one like it before. On someone's back wall. A conch, he called it. He used to blow on it and then it would come to him." mother. Is it ever so precious--" (Golding15). They use this shell as a symbol of how fragile order and democracy are. The sound of the shell brings all the kids together after the plane crash. The plane crash separated them in the middle of the paper... which cannot satisfy everyone's needs, it is destined to collapse. The inability of boys to follow the rules and keep everything under control leads male society to failure. When members of a civilization are more focused on themselves instead of society, it becomes impossible for that society to succeed. In the novel Lord of the Flies, author William Golding describes this perfectly. Works Cited Al-Saidi, Afaf. “Savagery and the Heart of Darkness in William Golding's Lord of the Flies.” Studies in Literature and Language 4.1 (2012): 129-34. ProQuest. January 15, 2014 Cheuse, Alan. "Hearts of Darkness; 50 Years Later, 'Lord of the Flies' Still Resonates as It Examines the Loss of Innocence." Chicago Tribune March 21, 2004: 1. ProQuest. January 15, 2014.Chen, Principal. "Lord of the Flies." Voices from the Middle 12.4 (2005): 71. ProQuest. January 15th. 2014 .