Conch Shell In Lord Of The Flies

The the 1954 book of Lord of The Flies boys are stranded on an island after a plane crash and come in contact with many obstacles during their defer on the island. In William Golding’s book of Lord of the Flies it is crucial to understand the important symbols throughout his book to be able to understand the characters and story development.. Using symbols such as the conch shell, the beast, the knife and Piggy’s spectacles, Golding shows that when humans are taken away from society, they allow for the evil within them to take over.

One of the most important symbols in this book is the conch shell. In the story, Piggy and Ralph find a conch shell upon reaching the island. The shell is then used as power to gather the boys together, along

with acting as a meeting place and a sense of democracy. The shell is used in the same way a Native American talking stick was used.

This meant that once the conch shell was blown, then the meeting would start. The conch was then passed around and the only person who could speak was the person holding the conch shell. In the book it says, ‘‘‘I got the conch,”’said Piggy indignantly. “‘You let me speak’”(p.52)! This shows the little respect Piggy received although the conch was his idea. Later, Ralph shouts over the boys, “‘We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here as down there’”(p.52). This shows that the boys needed a way back to civilization and rules, a meeting place, and the conch shell gave them a society to be a part of. Each of the boys all want to chief in one way or another, but they vote Ralph as chief because of his leadership qualities. While the conch shows a sense of civilization and society the boys also draw away from it and the island goes through chaos. Golding writes, “Ralph took the conch from him and looked round the circle of boys”(p.52). Each of the boys yearn for everyone to listen to them and follow their rules. As the story progresses, the conch begins to become less important and the boys don’t care about the significance of

the conch. Finally, at the end of the book the conch shell breaks and no longer has any meaning to the group except Piggy. The author writes, “the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist”(pdf.-p.141) This quote tells us that with the physical conch broken it’s importance no longer exists and once the conch was broken and ceased to exist so was Piggy. Golding writes, “ Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red”(pdf.-p.141). The conch symbolizes Piggy, because while they both held some importance in the beginning, they held little to no importance as they became disregarded by their society, until eventually both were broken.
Another one of the important symbols William Golding uses is the knife. He describes the knife as a gory, bloody and even a frightening weapon. The knife’s deeper meaning and symbolism is the power through threatening, the power to kill, and dictatorship. In the book, Jack, the choir leader doesn’t want to continue to living off just fruit so he suggests the choir boys and him go hunting for pigs. Ralph, the chief of all the boys decides that they should just focus on the signal fire so they can get off the island as quickly as possible. Frustrated, “Jack snatched from behind him a sizable sheath-knife and clouted it into a trunk”(p. 25) This shows us that Jack doesn’t care about what his leader says and wants to do what he wants. Jack chooses to show his eagerness through violence which shows dictatorship. The author writes, “All at once, Robert was screaming and struggling with the strength of frenzy. Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife. Behind him was Roger, fighting to get close”(pdf-p.88). This tells us that Jack was willing to do whatever he needed to do to make Roger do what he wanted him to do. This shows Jacks yearn for dictatorship and for him to be the dictator. Jack didn’t care if Ralph was in charge or if anyone one else took charge as long as the boys listened to Jack and did what was asked. Another example of Jack being a dictator was when he decided to break off from Simon, Piggy and Ralph and start his own tribe. Once Jack left to begin his own tribe him and others went to go hunt for a pig. As the boys are hunting they find a female pig carrying baby pigs and they begin to chant "_Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in_”(pdf.-p.57). They were so focused on killing the pig that they didn’t care who or what they were hurting. During their feast celebrating their new tribe and having fun a the boys see a figure and believe it is the beast they’ve been hunting for. Jack shouts at the boys,"_Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood_"(pdf.-p.118)! This an example of Jack’s love for being his tribe’s dictator. Jack ordered his tribe to attack this hidden figure while they chant “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”, but little did he know who he ordered his tribe to kill was Simon. This quote is an example of the deeper meaning behind the knife because the knife symbolizes the power through threat and Jack lets that get to him and take over the group.
One of the other important symbols Golding uses to show the characters is the beast. The beast is described by golding as a frightening scare to the littluns on the island.The beast is evil and brings evil upon the boys and the island. In the book the littluns believe they saw a “beastie”. The biguns don’t believe them and are convinced they’re being silly. The actual meaning behind the beast is the evil and that is within each of the boys on the island that is causing them to not get along and lose touch with civilization. Before Simon stumbles across the lord of the flies he is having a dispute with the boys about the existence of the beast he says, "Maybe," he said hesitantly, "maybe there is a beast”(pdf.-p.68). After Simon and the boys discuss if the beast is real or not the boys begin the get even more frustrated with each other. During one of their meetings the rest of the boys side with Jack when he says to Ralph, "Bollocks to the rules! We're strong--we hunt! If there's a beast, we'll hunt it down! We'll close in and beat and beat and beat--”(pdf.-p.70)! This tells us the boys really do fear the beast and are determined to kill the beast to protect themselves, and that during their unsupervised time on the island the rules society would have put on them became relaxed. In the beginning of the book William Golding writes, "Within the diamond haze of the beach something dark was fumbling along"(pdf.-p.11). This quote is used the first time the boys see the beast. This quote is foreshadowing at the boys’ later uncontrollable and savage-like behavior. On night when all the boys are asleep Samneric, the twins leave the rest of the boys. They come rushing back to the camp and shout, "Ralph! Wake up!" The leaves were roaring like the sea. "Ralph, wake up!" "What's the matter?" "We saw--" "--the beast--" "--plain!" "Who are you? The twins?" "We saw the beast--" "Quiet. Piggy!" The leaves were roaring still. Piggy bumped into him and a twin grabbed him as he made for the oblong of paling stars. "You can't go out--it's horrible!" "Piggy--where are the spears?"(pdf.-p.75,76). This quote tells us that the beast is getting to each of the boys and causing adversities between the boys. The beast symbolizes the inner devil within each of the boys and because of that there are many disputes that occur during their time on the Island .
Another one of the important symbols is Piggy’s Specs.

In Lord of the Flies Piggy is the one who tries to bring the boys back to society and the rules of the world since they have distanced themselves from civilization. The symbolism behind Piggy’s specs is discovery, civilization, isolation from society and technology. At the beginning of the book when Piggy can see clearly and his glasses haven’t been broken yet the boys still are more responsive to rules, but later on in the book when Piggy’s glasses are used to start the signal fire the boys lose touch with society’s rules. At one of the first meeting they held Piggy decide that they, “can't have everybody talking at once. We'll have to have 'Hands up' like at school”(pdf.-p.25). This is an example of the boys at the beginning of the book trying to find a way for them to be able to eventually get off the Island, but later on the boys become more troubled with hunting a pig than being rescued and leaving the island. Once Jack created his own tribe with war paint him and his other followers attacked Piggy, Ralph, and Samneric while,” a vicious snarling in the mouth of the shelter and the plunge and thump of living things”(pdf.-p.130). Piggy’s specs are stolen leaving him completely blind. This is an example when the boys completely lost touch with society and the rules of society. Since Piggy’s blind so is the group about working together. After Jack has attacked Piggy, Ralph, and Samneric William Golding writes, “Then

the three of them turned and trotted away”(pdf.-p.109). This tells us the three boys have completely let the island take over them and all the chaos. Piggy's specs also symbolize technology and innovation. When the boys have only been on the island for a short period of time they are trying to start a signal fire so they can get rescued as fast as possible. The author writes, “Jack pointed suddenly. ‘“His specs--use them as burning glasses’”(p.50)! This is an example of the boys using their resources and technology to start a signal fire.
In conclusion, Lord of the Flies is a book that conveys the evil within each person and in our society. In William Golding’s book: Lord of the Flies, it is crucial to understand the important symbols throughout his book to be able to understand the characters and their development. William Golding uses symbols throughout his story to connect the conflict that his characters