The Conch in Lord Of The Flies Essay

Lord of the Flies Essay: The Conch

Symbols are important to many people because it is a representation of their individuality. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the conch shell is a representation of the order in society. The conch shell is used to speak during the meetings on the island. He who holds the conch is the speaker. Throughout the novel, a few people get a hold of the conch and either use it to speaks or take over the group of boys. At first, the conch holds this power over the group of plane-crash British boys, but as uncivilized behavior ensues, the conch becomes broken and symbolically loses its power.

At first when the boys find themselves stranded on an unknown island, Ralph and Piggy found a pinkish, white shell. Soon enough they find themselves blowing on the conch. "Ralph grasped the idea and hit the shell with air from the diaphragm. Immediately the thing sounded. A deep, harsh note boomed under the palms, spread through the intricacies of the forest and echoed back from the pink granite of the mountain. Clouds of birds rose from the treetops, and something squealed and ran in the undergrowth." (Golding, 17) As they soon find out that they could use the conch to call meetings, Ralph and Piggy get excited that they can now use something for order. But also with the order and power on Ralphs side, the conch had made him chief since the group of boys believes that with the founder and blower of the conch, Ralph would be the leader. He laid the conch with great care in the grass at his feet. Im not going to play any longer. Not with you. (Golding, 127) Even when Jack has lost himself through his animal instincts, he still has respect for the conch or he still has a tiniest bit of civilization left in him to be able to lay the conch down with care. This indicates that the order of civilization still withstands within the group of boys. The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. (Golding, 181) This proves how the conch degenerates from the novel, because in the beginning of the book, the conch had a pinkish undertone to it, but later on in the novel the conch loses its color with only white; with it turning white, it shows how much the civilization is dying, and as Jack becomes more obsessed in his hunting, the conch ceased to exist like Piggy. This indicates that order is now gone since there isnt anyone left in Ralphs tribe and with the conch being gone also. To fairly conclude, the conch had a great impact in the novel, with the meetings for order, authority, and the right to speech, but one knows that, that order will soon disappear when the humanity and civilization dies out.

The conch, which is used by the boys to call assemblies and order, in the novel, loses its influence as the story progresses, and thus the boys begin to follow their animalistic desires into savagery and chaos. Therefore the conchs value at the end of the book is no longer something that crosss Jacks tribe, and with the conch being gone with Piggy, Ralph is hopelessly desperate to get off the island since the conch was the only thing left that stopped Jacks and his tribes madness. Knowing that kids could act this way in novels, thinking that the same wouldnt happen to anyone, is wrong. The conchs symbolic representation was really the hope that was put into the group of stranded boys, and with order gone savagery will overwhelm the boys.