Essay On The Conch Shell In Lord Of The Flies

Singer-songwriter Eric Burdon once said, “Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.” In William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, symbols are used to represent a deeper meaning to the novel. Three symbols he used are the conch, the Lord of the Flies, and the island. There are numerous amounts of symbols in the novel, one of them being the conch that Ralph and Piggy found.

The novel the Lord of the Flies is about a group of young British school boys who are 6-14 years old by themself on a deserted island. The symbols of the Conch shell, Piggy’s Specs and the Fire had changed throughout the Lord of the Flies by William Golding.The story explains how the boys become savages by not having a structure society causing them to lose their humanity.

"A conch he called it. He used to blow it and his mum would come. It's ever so valuable" – Piggy, Lord of the Flies. The conch is a sea creature, its shell is revered in many cultures such as Hinduism and Buddhism for its beauty and the sound it makes. The conch is also that shell in Lord of the Flies which is blown into to gather the boys. The author, William Golding, uses the conch to show that democracy will succumb to rule by force in the face of serious trouble or need. In the book, it is a symbol of democratic power but it is not without its enemies who eventually overrule it.

He made the conch a symbol of order. The conch brings the boys together for meetings where they can talk and have order. Piggy also makes it so you cannot speak unless you have the conch. Piggy and the conch become very close, as if Piggy feels it as the only thing that has order, from being humiliated by all the other boys. An example of this is after all the boys run up the mountain to make a fire: “'Like kids!' he said scornfully, 'Acting like a crowd of kids!' Ralph looked at him doubtfully and laid the conch on a tree trunk...'What do they think they're going to do on that mountain?' He caressed the shell respectively, then stopped and looked up. 'Ralph! Hey! Where are you going?'” (37). This shows that the conch is a symbol of order because Ralph puts it down once order is lost and chaos begins when all the boys run up the mountain, but Piggy picks it up and starts caressing it, mourning the loss of order. Finally, he stops caressing it when Ralph decides to join the chaos and runs up the mountain after the other boys. Piggy is killed when Roger pushes a rock on Piggy which shatters the conch and sends Piggy flying out to sea to his death: “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.”(200). This shows that with the death of Piggy, the conch, a symbol of order on the island, also dies. Note how Golding describes it as “ceased to exist”. It shows that order ceased to exist with the death of the conch and Piggy, the only two things on the island that build or represent order, and how chaos ensues after they are gone. That is why Piggy's death on the island helps develop a theme of order versus

The conch symbolizes civilization and order throughout the boys as if they were in school, having the conch call meetings and only allowing the boy holding the conch to speak. As the story progresses, Jack and his tribe no longer respect the rules and power of the conch. After Piggy attempts to use the conch as enforcement to talk and call a meeting, Jack quickly says, "the conch doesn't count at this end of the island" (Golding 150). The boys now dismiss meetings and talk out of turn growing further apart from civilization they have in their earlier lives and are turning into savages disobeying rules. While Piggy is trying to get his glasses back from Jack, he is hit by a rock that kills him along with destroying the conch. All of the boys were gathered around and are witnesses of Piggy’s death, "[t]he rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist." (Golding 181). Now the boys have turned to full savagery destroying the only thing that kept order on the island. Also, the destroying of the

One way the conch symbolizes authority, occurs when the boys don't listen to the rule of the conch and they further leave behind society. When the boys first organize themselves on the island they make begin making rules. The highest or most important rule is that whoever is holding the conch has the right to speak, without being interrupted. By making a rule involving the conch they have now made an authority figure. Some of the boys would follow the rule until the end but others began breaking the rule hours after it was made. When Piggy is holding the conch on the

In Lord of the Flies, evil is described in many situations. The author Golding is trying to put an image in our heads showing how the group has lost their civilization The conch is one of many symbols in the book to show fear. Ralph found the conch on the beach and he now uses it to obtain order .Whoever uses the conch has the right to speak,also when the conch is blown it means there is a meeting.

In the novel, Lord of the flies the conch shell represents power or in other words law and order. This novel carries out a civilization vs savagery theme. In Lord of the flies the characters are very dynamic and use the conch shell to overpower one another. The conch shell may show corruption or it may show alignment

Golding uses the historical precedent to show that specific things are needed in order for a society to continue. In the novel, The Lord of The Flies, written by William Golding, the conch shell symbolizes order and leadership, Piggy’s glasses represent intelligence and survival, the fire is a representation of hope. The purpose of the conch shell is that it is a means of communication within the group and determines leadership among the boys. Anger and confusion arises in the group, so the boys need to determine who is the leader of the pack when one the boys find the conch shell.

During my first semester in grade 9, I read Lord of the Flies, a novel written by William Golding in 1954. It is a story about a group of boys who were stranded in a remote island after their plane crashes over the Pacific. One of the older boys, Ralph becomes the chief/leader of the boys following a vote between who will lead them. Ralph argues that the group's main goals should be to have fun, survive, and maintain a smoke signal to catch the attention of the outside world. The boys quickly lose interest in the day-to-day tasks Ralph wants them to perform, like building shelters.

This imagery is symbolic of change in the boys. No longer are they civilized, they are transforming into barbaric creatures and the idea of democracy can no longer keep them together. The conch and Ralph start to lose their importance; evil is starting to prevail and use their ability to control unwisely, linking to the theme. When all sense of civility is lost, “the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments” (pg 181) leaving the island with no leader. The explosion is symbolic of the island’s corruption, and the absolute loss of civilization. The conch was the idea of maintaining order within the island’s society, and when it breaks or “dies”, it’s the death of the idea civility. Piggy also dies here, furthering with the idea of having no intellect. With no civilization or rational thought, all sense of what used to be known has disappeared. All of the power that Ralph and the shell had, is now ceased to exist. The power inside evil has prevailed, proving the theme of power is dependent upon the situation.

Maliha Kamran Mrs. Spring H English I 30 November 2014 LOTF Essay Symbols are snapshots of motion. They are synonymous with complexity and power, as they give people a kind of understanding that does not require an explanation.

The Lord of the Flies is a thought-provoking book with many symbols and significances. Truly, the sows head and conch shell mean diverse things. Lord of the Flies is about power along with the symbols having power too. Ultimately, the power of a person can use a symbol to control a group. The novel and symbols have different meanings that are stimulating.

In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a plane crashes on an island and a group of children are stranded. The Lord of the Flies has many symbolic elements in the essay beginning from the title to the end of the novel. There were two elements that stood out to me; I want to examine the Conch Shell and the Signal Fire to show how the significance in the novel. The boys use the conch shell to indicate who has speaking rights at the moment. One boy says what is on his mind while holding the shell and others request it to comment on what was said.

When the boys first start a fire on top of the mountain, Piggy holds the conch and attempts to speak. But Jack scolds him by saying, “The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain, so you shut up” (Golding 39). Boys like Jack begin to place restrictions on the conch and lose respect for it and for one another. Then one day at an assembly, Jack places even less importance on the conch excluding more of the boys and weakening the equal order and authority that the conch provides. Jack says, “We don’t need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things...It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us” (Golding 92). Jack’s statement here clearly connects the end of the conch to a change in the social order. Jack is slowly becoming a power-hungry dictator, and the orderly influence of the conch is replaced by man’s evil desires.