Upon the first few chapters of Lord of the Flies, the two boys first introduced, Ralph and Piggy, come across a shell. Piggy recognizes this item from back home, “A conch he called it.” (15) From then on, they called it the conch. With all the other boys scattered among the island from the plane crash, Ralph summons them with a blow of this conch. Throughout the novel Ralph comes to call these meetings assemblies. With Golding’s particular form of the conch, it becomes a symbolic reference to civilization. As the novel progresses, civilization erodes and savagery comes upon them. Once Ralph and Jack divide into two different groups on the island, Ralph begins to realize what is happening, “If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued.” (83) The conch is losing influence on the boys, a sign that civilization will soon disappear. In the second to last chapter, Ralph tries a desperate attempt to call an assembly, but fails miserably. Fighting bursts among the boys, all the while Piggy is screaming to speak. Roger furtively focused all his weight on an immense rock and it went tumbling down, demolishing not only the ground below it, but Piggy and the conch also. “The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments
Upon the first few chapters of Lord of the Flies, the two boys first introduced, Ralph and Piggy, come across a shell. Piggy recognizes this item from back home, “A conch he called it.” (15) From then on, they called it the conch. With all the other boys scattered among the island from the plane crash, Ralph summons them with a blow of this conch. Throughout the novel Ralph comes to call these meetings assemblies. With Golding’s particular form of the conch, it becomes a symbolic reference to civilization. As the novel progresses, civilization erodes and savagery comes upon them. Once Ralph and Jack divide into two different groups on the island, Ralph begins to realize what is happening, “If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued.” (83) The conch is losing influence on the boys, a sign that civilization will soon disappear. In the second to last chapter, Ralph tries a desperate attempt to call an assembly, but fails miserably. Fighting bursts among the boys, all the while Piggy is screaming to speak. Roger furtively focused all his weight on an immense rock and it went tumbling down, demolishing not only the ground below it, but Piggy and the conch also. “The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments