What Does The Conch Symbolize Democracy

In the novel, The Lord of the Flies, the conch symbolizes democracy. At the beginning of the chapter two, Raph hesitantly calls a meeting, through the conch, he finds the power to be a leader. As he nervously looked around, “Ralph lifted the cream and pink shell to his knees and a sudden breeze scattered light over the platform...all at once he found that he could talk fluently and explain what he had to say” (Golding 31). As Ralph is picking up the conch, a disturbance is in the atmosphere, showing the shift in power. The conch gives ralph a voice and confidence. Where he was previously unsure of talking, he can now speak “fluently”, or smoothly and readily. He is able to discuss the next steps to building a civilization. In a democracy,
the ability to speak is an important factor. It’s a factor that the conch shell covers well. It gives the person speaking the courage and power to speak up, just as democracy does. Democracy can be easily destroyed if authority is given to the wrong person. The conch is just as fragile. During a meeting, “Jack held out his hands for the conch and stood up, holding the delicate thing carefully in his sooty hands”(Golding 42). Jack is certainly the most savage character at this point, his hands being described as sooty, or blackened-the color of gloom and doom, hinting that nothing civil can come from him. While he is holding the shell is the first time the conch is described as easily broken. This shows that savagery can easily destroy democracy, just as Jack can break the conch.
Just as democracy gives anyone a voice and say, the conch gives Piggy a chance to speak his mind. Normally, everyone ignores Piggy completely; however, with the conch shell, the boys at least listen to him. He “lost his temper. ‘I got the conch! Just you listen! The first thing we ought to have made was shelters down by the beach. It wasn't half cold down here in the night. But the first time Ralph says ‘fire’ you goes howling and screaming up this here mountain. Like a pack of kids!’ By now they were listening to the tirade”(Golding 45). While Piggy did talk through his anger he addressed issues in a civilized manner utilizing the conch. When he did this, the boys listened to him, like a true democracy. The child civilization respects the conch and the accompanying voice and pays attention to it, The conch became the symbol of speaking, like voting, just as democracy is about the people.