Who Is The Conch In Lord Of The Flies

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.

The boys hardly listen to Piggy because he is an outsider. The most obvious reason the boys consider him an outsider is because of his
appearance. Piggy is fat, has asthma, and wears glasses, while everyone else is slim with no disabilities. In the very beginning of the book the boys recognized Piggy as an outsider, taunting him and calling him names. “He’s not Fatty,” cried Ralph, “his real name’s Piggy!” (21). Piggy is also the parent of the group, always criticizing and muttering about how immature the others are. The boys dislike and ignore him because of this, not understanding why he wants to work on getting rescued instead of playing and having fun. They view Piggy as a know-it-all, and most people ignore what know-it-alls have to say because they don’t want to listen to someone who thinks they are smarter than them. Piggy is weak, making him an easy target for the boy’s sadistic nature. The boys constantly bully Piggy, and this is where the beginning of their savage nature begins. They see Piggy is different and are naturally mean to him, but it soon becomes worse because they realize there are no adults around to punish them for their behavior. Jack makes cruel remarks to Piggy throughout the book, such as “you shut up, you fat slug!” and “who cares what you believe – Fatty!” (90,91). Roger takes advantage of Piggy’s helplessness and crushes him with a rock, knowing there will be no consequences. If Piggy didn’t have any disabilities and possessed leadership qualities, it is possible that he and Ralph could keep order and peace on the island and be rescued much sooner. Once Piggy dies along with the conch, all order and reason on the island disappears for good.
When Ralph approaches Jack’s tribe and blows the conch to call an assembly, we learn that the conch has lost its power among the boys. The conch represents order, and without it there is nothing to keep the boys in line. Even in his final moments, Piggy is still trying to get the boys to see reason. As Ralph is getting heated with Jack, Piggy attempts to get his attention and says “Ralph – remember what we came for. The fire. My specs.” After Piggy’s death, Jack orders Roger to torture Samneric into joining the tribe and makes the decision to hunt Ralph down and kill him. Piggy dying meant the absolute end of trying to reason with Jack’s tribe and any hope of peaceful civilization on the island. He is the parent figure and the reminder of moral among the boys, and once he is out of the way nothing held them back
emotionally. In Lord of the Flies, it is clear that Piggy is the smartest; yet the boys don’t want to hear what he has to say and abuse him instead. The boys refuse to listen to him because he is an outsider and attempts to impose his parent-like nature upon them, which they dislike because they have finally escaped the power adults had over them. He is at the stem of the other’s road to savagery, and once he dies the island turns to complete chaos with no hope of turning back. Piggy represents the authority and morals the boys had left behind when they crashed, and they hate him for it because he is a constant reminder of everything they’ve ever known.