The Meaning of the Conch

In the novel Lord of the Flies, there are many very meaningful quotes and references to the conch. This novel study has revealed that the conch is more than just a shell. It has a deep and underlying meaning to the dynamics of the events, which occur, on the island for the duration of the novel. Through the use of the conch as a symbol, Golding develops the idea that the civilization and relations between the boys is completely shattered when the conch is crushed by the large rock. This then reveals through microcosm and macrocosm, that democracy is beginning to die in our world today. More dictators are taking over. In the beginning of the novel the conch represents democracy, democratic authority, civilization and order. In the middle of the book the boys start to ignore it more, it is less important to them, and the new tribe of hunters do not respect it. At the end, everything that the conch represents is completely destroyed when it is crushed along with Piggy by the boulder. Cruelty, power, and savagery take over.

In the beginning of the novel, the conch is extremely important to the group of boys. To them it represents democracy, democratic authority, civilization and order. The boys think that the conch is, "ever so valuable"(11).  Such as how important democracy is to a group of individuals to retain social equality. Once the conch was found, it was put to work right away: "We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting"(12).  They used the conch to call assemblies, which shows the importance of democratic authority to the group of boys. Their assemblies and meetings were always very civilized, and they each had their turn to say what they thought about certain things. At a dictators meeting, it would consist of chanting and yelling, and the leader would be the only one to express their opinion. When they began to use the conch to call assemblies, it worked very effectively at the beginning of the novel: "The children gave him the same simple obedience that they had given to the men with the megaphones"(14). This quote shows how attentive and well behaved the children were during the meetings, they were obedient to Ralph and others when they were speaking. When Ralph blew the conch, everyone obeyed him and there was no confusion, or disrespect to him or the conch. So in the first few chapters of the novel, the conch was very important to the boys. It represented democracy, democratic authority, civilization and order, which are very important to maintaining a civilization.

Work Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. London: Faber, 1954. Print.