What Does The Conch Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

Symbolism, one of the main elements used to convey the main idea in the esteemed novel The Lord of Flies written by William Golding ,advances the plot and foreshadows upcoming events or actions.Many symbols were mentioned throughout the novel such as: the beast, the fire, the island and much more however, the most dominant ones that enormously established and supported the conflict between civilization and savagery were the conch and Piggy glasses.

The first and the most important symbol mentioned is the conch, a hand palm sized shell that allowed Ralph and Piggy to speak in a high frequency voice to call any other victims of the plane crash. Here it represents hope of getting rescued; knowing that there is a group of other people lost just

like them gave Ralph and Piggy a sense of safety and security. Afterwards, it becomes a symbol that calls for civilization as it was the reason behind establishing rules and following punishments to whom breaks them. It gathers the boys in one place for meetings, as Piggys says, “We can use this to call others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us.” It also gives the boy who holds it the right to speak and to be listened to. This ties it to humanity because it links to democracy whenever there is a problem, issue or an idea a meeting is held to discuss it. For example, a meeting was held to introduce the idea of creating fire as Ralph says, “We can help them find us.If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us . So we must make a smoke on top of the mountain.”

All of this concludes that the conch had actual power and authority in which explains why Ralph did not even use it when Piggy told him to do so when trying to call the hunters while they were dancing, because he knew they won’t follow his order and therefore confirms the loss of power and order, “If I blow the conch and they don’t come; then we’ve had it,” said Ralph to Piggy.

On the other hand, this action was the first that determines the change, loss of power and a shift to savagery. Ralph knew that the hunters won’t come back because they were busy celebrating dance war, and this, in addition to war chants and war paint, was a sign of savagery. Another action that related to shifting to savagery was when Jack constantly broke the rules to threaten Ralph’s authority, plus his continuous assert that the conch doesn’t matter on his side of the land because he is more of an autocratic leader.

When the conch was shattered into pieces with Piggy’s death, it showed that the last linkage between the boys and civilization was demolished. They killed one another for a simple argument instead of solving it as civilized people. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.” Overall, its major importance centers on covering the major theme: the conversion from civilization and savagery as a result of facing an extreme

situation.

Moving on to the next symbol, Piggy’s glasses.

They’re intended for vision and sight, which is a metaphor for knowledge and intelligence. The glasses made him grow into an adult since living in an overprotective environment, because he has gained information that the boys lack, such as how the conch is used. When his glasses are taken away from him and eventually shatter, he becomes blind and his knowledge fades, this makes him virtually helpless which restricts his usefulness as Ralph’s advisor. His blindness foreshadows later events in the book when Jack’s tribe steal the spectacles, leaving Piggy completely blind and vulnerable. He says, "They've blinded me," before his death when the glasses shatter completely. This shows the strength of civilization that was brought by intelligence and reasoning, and it empowers the weakness that was brought by loss of reasoning and therefore savagery.

It also symbolizes rescue. In chapter 3, the boys were unable to start the fire using sticks or stones, but they easily light it when using Piggy’s glasses to direct the sunlight onto the woods.“His specs-use them as burning glass!” At this point the glasses symbolize an attachment to civilization because we tend to associate fire with a civilized society. It also symbolize Piggy’s contribution to the group; generally he can’t help in tasks that involve physical activity because of his weigh asthma so allowing the boys to use his glasses shows that he is still helping them in their attempts

for being rescued.

At the end the conch was the symbol that had the largest impact because it explained to me vividly the idea and the theme that was behind writing the book, civilization vs. savagery and what actions lead to that, as an example: when jack broke the rules and when fear blinded the boys and resulted killing simon. Another reason, is because the conch symbolism is related to most of the characters and therefore conducted in actually knowing more about each character and their actions whereas Piggy’s glasses mostly surrounds about Piggy himself.

As expressed, symbolism represent an important role in making this an allegory novel, everything has deeper meaning. These symbols help in presenting hidden messages and ideas. Albeit that there are further additional symbolisms unmentioned but, these appear to be the most outstanding and important. Lord Of Flies adress humanity and important worldwide issue through these present symbols.