William Golding's Lord Of The Flies Conch Essay

Meanwhile, Ralph values the group over himself, and wants everyone to have a say in any decisions made. Jack gets fed up with his lack of power, so he decides to try to become the leader. He asks if anyone wants to come with him, and says, “Hands up?’ said Jack strongly..... ‘How many think –’ His voice trailed off. The hands that held the conch shook. He cleared his throat, and spoke loudly. ‘All right then.’ …. The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye. ‘I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you’”(127). Jack acts like a little kid in this scene. This hunger for power demonstrated by Jack has made him corrupt, so much that he will not tolerate being with the others if he can’t be the leader. Jack tries to portray an image of manliness, but it is evident that it is not true when he starts crying. Qualities like this are why Jack is incapable of being the leader. Overall, Ralph is able to handle the power that he is given in a more mature way than Jack.

The conch a significance a powerful symbol of civilization.The shell governs the boys meetings and the respect they have with each other.For example as the novel progress the conch, “we can use this to call the others. Have a meeting, they'll come when they hear this.”(Golding 22)Piggy tells ralph that blowing the conch anyone else on the island will come when they hear it. It symbolizes the forces that brought the boys together.Later the conch becomes disrespected and cannot hold everyone together anymore. The boys become savages and lose every resource they have to survive in the island.Jack and Ralph feud “I’m chief and i've got the conch ralph says, Jack responds you don’t have it with you and the conch doesn't count at this end of the

The conch shell is, though in an obscure way, present in everything relating to the law on the island. The conch shell, grants, the boy holding it the right to speak; furthermore, the blowing of the conch announces all meetings held on the island. The conch holds political power and influence over the boys. In fact, one factor, which directly results in the election of Ralph as the leader, is he is the one holding the conch. “But 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 powerfully there was the conch.” (Page 22/Lines 30-33) This quote powerfully exhibits the influence the conch has on political decisions that the boys make. The conch shell is extremely important to law structure on the island, even if it is not so obvious.

He always questions the power of the conch and Ralph, saying that the conch rule does not matter on certain parts of the island, his part of the island. The part that the savages control. Yet he uses the conch to his advantage when possible, for example when he calls his own assembly to talk about Ralph not being chief. For him, the conch represents the rules and boundaries that have kept him from acting on the impulses to dominate others. Their entire lives in the other world, the boys had been used to the rules set by society against physical aggression. On the island, however, that social standard is not there and they need to be adults and set the rules. Jack has no one to tell him his behavior is bad. He quickly loses interest in that world of politeness and boundaries, which is why he feels no need to keep the fire going or attend to any of the other responsibilities that would help the entire group. His desire for power takes over his common sense and

The next reason for humanity to be pushed over is the fact that the boys were living on an island with no rules to be followed unless they were their own. In the first chapter on page. 16, Ralph proclaims this to piggy, “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us.” The conch represents power, and whoever had possession of it received this gift. This caused drama because everyone was “power hungry animals”, and they caused fights over who got to use the conch to make a statement. An example of one of these people is Jack. Who wanted the conch because with it, you could do and say anything. All in all, “Lord of the Flies,” can show readers that humanity can be covered up and turn rotten by selfishness, struggle, and envy.

A decided military authoritarian, ordering his choir as if they were troops, allowing room for neither discussion nor dissent, he significantly chooses for his choir the role of hunters; he selects that task which is most violent and, in this society, most related to military values. However, as his inability to kill the pig demonstrates, Jack is not yet accustomed to violence. Jack must prepare himself to commit a violent act, for he is still constrained by societal rules that oppose this behavior; his authoritarian attitude has given him a predisposition to violence, but he must shed the lessons of society before he can kill. In both temperament and physical appearance, Ralph is the

Jarod Kintz, an author who has said great ideas, once said, “Sometimes a symbol holds more power than the thing it represents.” In Lord of the Flies, the conch held the power and represented authority. Throughout the book, the conch signified power, authority, and civilization. However, the conch’s importance lessened as order was lost amongst the boys. In Lord of the Flies, Golding showed that power and authority were represented by the conch but slowly diminished as savagery peaked.

They blew the conch and the kids on the island heard it and everyone came toward them. Once everyone regrouped, the group chose a leader and that was Ralph and they declared that whoever had the conch spoke. The Conch's power is shown when everyone votes for Ralph to be chief just because he was the one with the Conch. ' " Him with the shell."

Civilization can be destroyed as easily as it is created.  Without the walls of society, humans are capable of committing actions that they would have never thought possible.  Lord of the Flies focuses on a group of boys who are alone on an island without authority. The novel reveals what can become of humanity without the presence of authority.  In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the protagonist Ralph symbolizes leadership, civilization,  as well as the loss of innocence.  Ralph is the closest resemblance to authority that the boys have on the island.  His appearance plays an important role in him signifying authority, “You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a

Every one said. c. (CD) “Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing. ”(Page 29) d.. (CM) Ralph has the conch so he gets voted to be chief.

William Golding, the author, narrates the conch to shows it's democratic power and how democracy will yield to rule by force in trouble. The conch is ruled by Ralph, which immediately gives him authority and power over others, “They obeyed the summons of the conch, partly because Ralph blew it, and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority; and partly because they enjoyed the entertainment of the assemblies.” (59) Ralph is also linked to the adult side of the island, just because of the power of the conch. Clearly, the conch has much power for being just a shell, which leads the others kids wanting a share of the conch. Soon, the conch becomes a grab for power and anyone who can use and also overuse it. This may result in a not needed power struggle, which ultimately leads to the downfall of many strong leaders and their followers. The conch was also a symbol of communication,

vote for Ralph to be chief just because he was the one with the Conch.

But this democratic society does not last very long as the children (especially Jack) have a lack of respect and interest for the conch and the rules. We can see this happen when Jack says, “We don’t need the conch anymore, and we know who should say things.” As the conch represents democracy we can see that civilization on the island is crumbling and savagery is starting to take over.

Gangs are considered a group of people that have a common link together. Gangs are typically ethnically, racially, economically or geographically based. In William Golding 's Lord of the Flies, gangs rise up within the group of boys. William Golding gives us a glimpse of the savagery that underlies even the most civilized human beings. The bullying and group mentality demonstrated in gangs has resemblances to the characters in Lord of the Flies.

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.