In the book Lord of The Flies by William Golding, the conch symbolizes order, civilization and power. In the book, there are school aged boys from England who are deserted on an uninhabited island, and the protagonist, Ralph, becomes leader. He uses the conch as the object that represents his leadership and power. As the book continues, the conch is broken and Ralph loses his power as the civilization crumbles. In the book Lord of The Flies, the conch symbolizes order, civilization and power.
When Ralph first addresses himself as leader in Chapter 2, he is establishing the rules of their civilization. “And another thing. We can’t have everybody talking at once. We’ll have to have ‘Hands up’ like at school.” . . . “Then I’ll give him the conch. . . . I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.” Since people must hold the conch while speaking, it is literally holding the power of contribution to society and democracy while metaphorically representing power and order. At this point in the book, it holds the highest importance of power.
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He interrupts Piggy and expresses his irrigation towards the high regard and respect that the conch is held to and is questioning Ralph’s abilities as a leader. “Conch! Conch!” shouted Jack. “We don’t need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things. What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or Walter? It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us.” At this point in the novel, Jack is starting to show his dominance and is expressing that certain voices and opinions are more important than others, as the conch is losing the power it once held and the civilization is becoming less orderly and rule