Essay On The Conch In Lord Of The Flies, By William Golding

In Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, the conch is a major symbol that represents power, authority, and unity. The conch impacts the characters separating because others on the island wanted the power of the conch all for themselves. The lesson that is symbolized from the conch is it’s important to work well together because if only one person controls the situation, life will be become unbalanced and can begin to crumble. The need for togetherness happens today in my life when people all over the world work against each other while destroying their own society around them. In Golding’s novel, we can see that everyone wants the conch because it would make them the designated “leader” or “ruler” of the island. Piggy can demonstrate this ability of the conch in the novel as he raised “the conch as though to add power to his words.” (Golding 159) Even though the conch is a very simple object one can find anywhere, they all believe it is the only way to power with all the boys.

Another scene with the conch exhibiting its importance is when Ralph was upset at the hunters. Jack and his hunters went out to go and kill a pig, however they left their signal fire unattended, eventually burning out. When Ralph found out about this, he announced to them he would “‘[call] a meeting even if [they had] to go on into the dark.” (Golding 106) This shows the amount of authority the conch is believed to have. A sea shell was made into a trophy of power and unity on the island. Looking upon the society Golding has created in his novel, unity is essential for allowing a world to survive while still being humane. In today’s world, it is not often i’m able to see people act as