Preview

The Conch In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
397 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Conch In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies
From the beginning of the book the conch was introduced, it represented the boys civilization,and showed their life changing on the island. In the beginning the boys were all for a chief, the conch was there right from the start. It was introduced as a talking stick and as an elected item in the story to represent their humanity and civilization. "Shut up," said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. "Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things." "A chief! A chief!" This shows how the boys would have the conch elect the leader, Ralph, but also as the talking stick. As he lifted the conch into the air he was showing that he had the power to speak. This quote also shows how the boys respected the concn and it's ‘powers’. Going …show more content…
We shan't keep the fire going. We'll be like animals. We'll never be rescued." This quote shows how the boys don't listen to the conch as much anymore. They start to forget how the conch United them into one and they are becoming more and more savage like in and out of each chapter. No one even respects the conch at this point, but piggy. Piggy is the only one left who respects the conch and he shows it at the end. While everyone else has become savage he is left alone as the only civilized one. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.” Piggy is the only one who is civilized left, until the rock hits him. Once piggy is gone the author emphasizes the conch. When the rock hits piggy and the conch the author says …“the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” hinting at the boys have lost all law, and civilization entirely. Through the story, William Golding depicts the boys becoming savages and what United them as a civilization on the island was the conch. The conch never changes its meaning, but the boys change and almost entirely forget

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the breaking of the conch symbolizes the fall of society, which helps convey the theme of the Downfall of Society Without Consequences because, in the beginning of Lord of the Flies, the boys elected their chief, they used the conch to decide, since some of the boys said “‘Him with the shell.’ ‘Ralph! Ralph!’ ‘Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing’” (Golding 20), but they slowly stop respecting it and when the conch breaks, all social order on the island breaks with it, which is shown when they wanted to kill Ralph and Jack says “‘The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain,’ [...]” (Golding 43).. Since the boys all decided to go hunt and try to kill Ralph, who they elected to be their chief it is clear that the society that began the book, the conch, no longer has any power. At the beginning of the book the boys elected their chief by whoever was holding the conch, believing it had some kind of authority over them, but throughout the book, it explains that “He put the conch to his lips and began to blow. [...] At length Ralph took his lips away and paused to get his breath back.…

    • 1492 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Golding devotes the conch in the beginning of the book to call the boys together by Ralph, who was voted chief, to portray that the conch represents civilization and power. Golding also employs the conch to represent order, Ralph chooses to use the conch in the meetings, as a talking stick, to keep everyone from talking over each other. Lastly, Golding utilizes the conch to symbolize life, in chapter 9 the conch is not present when Simon dies in a chaotic slaughter. Also, the death of Piggy is also the end of the conch, “the rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch explod[ed] into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (Golding, 181), illustrating chaotic stupidity causing both Simon and…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “There are at least 2,225 child offenders serving life without parole sentences in U.S prisons for crimes committed before they were age 18” The statistical data shows that not only are the murderous thought of children being acted upon, but that children have thoughts about evil, heinous crimes. 2,225 children have taken away one or more lives. Has anyone ever thought of the total number of child murders in the whole world? Out of how many children in the world have committed similar crimes in their young years, and then are lead to become full fledge murderers in the adult years? How many child murderers never get caught, or have someone taking the fall for them? We may never know, however in The Lord of the Flies the author William Golding…

    • 1711 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Conch Quotes

    • 194 Words
    • 1 Page

    The Conch is a ‘magical’ object, and it represents order. The Conch gives the wielder a chance to speak uninterrupted as stated in the quote “surprisingly, there was silence now…” (180). This represents order because the people on the island will listen to other people’s ideas to see if they are logical or illogical. The secondary objective in chapter 11 is to re-establish order in Jack’s tribe, Ralph tries to do this by trekking to Castle Rock with the Conch as a ‘talisman’.…

    • 194 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is used to bring people together for assemblies and it symbolizes the civilization. In page 20 it says, “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. The being that had blown that, had sat waiting for them on the platform with the delicate thing balanced on his knees, was set apart.” This quote states the importance of the conch. But, as the story goes on, the conch loses its high power when people start to talk over the person who holds the conch, making arguments and chaos occur. It clearly shows the loss of the conch’s importance on page 114. It says, “‘Conch! Conch!’ shouted Jack. ‘We don’t need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things. What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or Walter? It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us.’” Jack decides that the conch is not an object of power and gives people the freedom to speak without holding the conch in their…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The conch and pig’s head are symbols of power in the book. In chapter 1, piggy and Ralph found the conch. If a child wants to talk during an assembly, then they have to grab the conch. When someone grabs the conch, other people can’t talk except Ralph because he is the leader of the group. The conch represents Ralph. Jack cut pig’s head after he hunted a boar. He put pig’s head on the stick. That looked like a totem. However, those two represent power although different types of the power.…

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The conch represents rules during their time on the island. Some of the rules on the island have to do with the conch. Golding describes “Him with the shell...Let him be chief with the trumpet thing”. [“Golding 22”.] The conch had control over…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    No one wants to listen to someone who comes across as if they think they’re smarter than you, especially when they look undependable. In moments of crisis, people don’t gravitate towards following the weak one even if they may be the smartest; they weed out the person who is the strongest and has the best leadership qualities, even if they may not know what they are doing. It’s all about natural selection, picking out the best and strongest in order to survive. This is the case in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, where a group of young boys becomes stranded on a deserted island with no adults. Their airplane had been shot down as they were flying from England to a safer place, for England was engaged in war. In Lord of the Flies, we quickly identify the character Piggy as the smartest, yet the boys frequently ignore and abuse him, leaving him useful only in the sense of advancing the themes of the novel.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The conch perhaps is one of the most important symbols in the story. It is referred to many times in the story. It is first used when Piggy spots it and tell Ralph to blow it. It signaled the boys and they started to flood the beach and over to Ralph. Right away they establish a rule with it. Only the person with it can talk, right then and there it symbolizes the power of the conch. Just like in society there are rules, and if the group has rules it with keep their ties to society. The conch symbolizes law, order, and power. Whoever has the conch is in power, it keeps the boys somewhat civilized and it has rules.…

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The conch is a powerful symbol of society and order in the island. At the beginning, when Ralph found the conch on the beach shore, all the kids came together for an assembly. After that, they made a rule, only the person who was holding the conch would be allowed to speak at the meetings, this worked well at the beginning. There was a point in the novel where the savage boys began to disrespect the conch and what it stood for, like a rebellion. When the boulder crushed the conch shell it signified a transition from a proper society, to a savage nightmare. The conch represented civility and organization, but soon became nothing put a broken sea shell.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the story, the year was about 1950, and the Cold War was still raging on. Countries were at war just because of hatred, much like the boys on the island were at war with each other. The conch is a subsymbol of this, for the boys initially respected it. ““I got the conch,” said Piggy indignantly. “You let me speak”” (42). Piggy is annoyed that a significant object like the conch suddenly has no meaning when he holds it. This is like a window of when the USSR and the U.S. lost respect over each other. The result was chaos and destruction, just like the result of the boys’ character on the island. ““We saw your smoke. What have you been doing? Having a war or something?”…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Not only does the conch bring the boys together and influence them to choose Ralph as their leader, it becomes a sacred object among the boys, a sign…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lord Of The Flies Conch

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Starting in chapter two, the boys agree that if one wants to speak “He can hold [the conch] when he’s speaking...And he won’t be interrupted” (33) to assure that everyone has the opportunity to share their ideas. Whoever is holding the conch during an assembly holds the attention, and therefore has authority over the tribe until he is finished speaking. That authority is given to the boys by the conch, and is not reflected by holding any true power over the tribe. Even those who are not leaders gain influence when the conch is in their grasp. The conch, though an inanimate object, has the ability to assert its power through the respect it gives to the boys. In the chaotic early meetings, if one was interrupted, all the speaker has to do is say “‘I’ve got the conch’” (82) and the other boys would retract their claim and wait for their turn. The conch is the most prized possession because it brought them all together, leading it to be the most important object on the island, which made it the perfect item to express their authority. Because the boys found hope in the conch, it is the greatest symbol for power they possess on the…

    • 797 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the beginning of the story, everyone was civilized. They voted Ralph as their leader and Ralph uses his authority to establish rules and enforce the moral and ethical codes of the English society. The conch symbolizes civilization and civilization keeps the boys from losing their innocence. After a few days, the boys did not want to work together and only wanted to have fun. The hunters even forget about the signal fire which is their only hope for civilization. Without civilization, the boys will have nothing to suppress their savagery.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Golding uses the conch to represent humanity’s need for civilization, hence why the ruined conch represents a loss of civilization. The conch was the only way to keep order on the island. Now that the conch no longer exists, Jack orders the savages to act worse, especially so to Samneric. Jack has become more violent to the boys, mainly toward Ralph’s former tribe. If the ship did not notice the boys, the savagery would only increase. There would have been no order, pure anarchy. The fire saves the boys, but the conch allows them to…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays