The Conch Shell In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, a plane crash strands a group of boys on an uninhabited island, with no adults around. As the boys come to realize this, they begin to establish a civilized government, based on the governments seen at home. Before Ralph and Piggy find the other boys, they find a pristine, “creamy” (Golding 15) shell. The shell brings all of the boys together, and becomes a symbol of the civilization they once knew, until the “Lord of the Flies”(Golding 143) replaces it, which represents the savagery and evil that everyone has in them. The conch shell represents unity, civilization, and government amongst the boys, and once the boys destroy the shell, they abandon their discipline.
When Ralph originally finds

the conch on the beach, he intends to use it to call any other survivors of the crash to have a meeting. From that point on, the conch becomes a unifying object, and a reminder to remain unified. The conch is also a symbol of equality, since the boys may only speak if they have the conch (Golding 33). This gives each boy a chance to share their opinion so that others view it as equal to the other opinions presented. However, as the book progresses, this equality becomes undermined, as Jack denies boys the right to speak, despite their possession of the conch, “‘I got the conch,’ said Piggy indignantly. ‘You let me speak!’...‘you shut up.’ [said Jack]” (Golding 42). The unity of the group also disintegrates as Jack splits from the group to start his own tribe. As more and more boys join Jack’s tribe, the conch begins to lose its significance among the boys. Ralph blows the shell multiple times, attempting to bring the boys back together, but to no avail. The conch’s significance dwindles until it shatters when crushed by a rolling boulder. Consequently, the unity of the group completely shatters as well, since all of the surviving boys are in Jack’s tribe.
From the beginning of the book, Ralph takes on the role of a leader.

He calls the group together, the boys elect him as chief, and he coordinates the group to create a civilization and its accompanying tasks. The conch is in Ralph’s possession from the beginning as well. From the second he picks it up, the conch is Ralph’s. Its majestic beauty mirrors Ralph’s physical attractiveness, a connection the other boys see when they meet Ralph, and as a result, they elect Ralph as their leader. Due to this, one could argue that the conch symbolizes Ralph’s leadership, which is strong in the beginning, but as the conch loses its majestic appeal to the boys, tension between Ralph and Jack rises (Golding 50-51), and Ralph’s leadership weakens. This is especially seen after Ralph calls a meeting, and the meeting disperses without Ralph’s dismissal. Ralph worries, “‘If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going” (Golding 92). Ralph feels that if he blows the conch again, it will lose its significance, and the boys will never come for a meeting again. After Jack declares that, “[He’s] not going to play any longer” (Golding 127), and sets off to make his own tribe, some of the boys start to leave Ralph’s leadership. It no longer influences them, until eventually, Roger shatters the conch with a boulder, crushes Ralph’s last follower, destroying his influence, and disintegrating his

leadership.
In addition, the conch is also tied to the civility of the boys.

As soon as Ralph calls the others on the island, the boys create a civilization with the characteristics of the societies they knew back at home. They elect a leader to serve as governance, Jack’s choir boys are made hunters to serve as the labor union, the boys attempt to create a distress signal system through the signal fire, and Ralph creates rules similar to those that dictate them at home. The boys may forget their jobs and specific tasks, but Ralph blows the conch, and they meet, reminding them of the task at hand. However, as tensions rise between Ralph and Jack, the group begins to disintegrate, refusing to listen to Ralph or obey the rules set in place. At this point, the conch loses much of its significance, a fact Ralph is well aware of. He refuses to overuse the conch, fearing he might disband the group altogether (Golding 92). As a result, the hunters stop maintaining the fire, which was their original assignment, and begin to do whatever they feel like, namely hunting pigs. In the scenes where the boys hunt, the development of their savagery can be clearly noted. Their hunts progress from hunting pigs for meat, to torturing pigs for fun (Golding 135-136), to murdering Simon (Golding 152), to hunting Ralph and planning to treat him just like the pig. It is just before the hunt for Ralph that the conch is destroyed. This milestone indicates the crossover from civility to total savagery of Jack’s

tribe. Only true savages hunt other humans, and the destruction of the conch marks this.
The conch is a symbol of unity, civility and governance for the boys. Due to the unchecked actions of the young children, they slowly turn from well behaved, presumably Christian, British boys, to savages that only care about their next kill. The destruction of the conch marks the destruction of the group, its sense of unity, its governing institution, and its ability to maintain a civil behavioral state. Once the conch is gone the boys cast away all remnants of civilization, and perform actions considered unspeakable in regular societies.