What Does The Conch Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

The representation of Civilization in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies came out a little after the second world war where society shows a big lack of civilization and excess of savagery portrayed by things such as concentration camps all around the world. In William Golding’s novel, a group of kids are deserted on an island after a plane crashes leaving them fighting for survival without any adult supervision. William Golding uses a conch which Ralph and Piggy had found to symbolize civilization on the island throughout the action of trying to keep everyone civilized, the conch shattering ensuing chaos, and its representation of leadership. First of all, the conch was used to try and keep civilization

when Roger kills Piggy by pushing a rock onto him, the conch gets destroyed with him which leads Jack to say, “See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isnt a tribe left for you anymore! The conch is gone.” (201). The example shows that the conch led Ralph’s tribe together with its rules and now that it's gone all that is left is Jack’s tribe and his savage ways as the thing that was differentiating the two tribes was the conch symbolizing rules and civilization to them. The conch shattering was --for Jack-- the moment that all civilization left, showing that the conch represents the last bit of civilization for these boys. Later in the book, after Ralph ran away to a safe place because he was getting chased by Jack, Ralph tought, “The breaking of the conch and the deaths of Pigy and Simon lay over the island like a vapour. These painted savages would go further and further.” (204). This passage shows that Ralph realises that the destruction of the conch, the deaths of Piggy and Simon means that the “painted savage”(204) have destroyed everything that could bring civilization to the island. The destruction of the conch means that Jack sees' no more rules leading him to turn completely savage and hunt Ralph as if he was a pig. He went as far as burning down a part of the island to get to him. This shows that the conch was the last thing connecting Jack to civilization

At the beginning of the novel, after Ralph and Piggy had found a conchon the beach which Ralph blew into, leading other children to come and meet him. The children then decided that they needed to vote for a leader so they could stay civilized and organized. When they were struggling to decide for a leader, multiple children say, “Him with the shell. Ralph! Ralph! Let him be chief with the trumpet thing.” (19). This quote demonstrates that the conch --which was responsible for gathering all the children together after Ralph blew into it-- led the boys to choose a leader to --just like in the real world-- establish laws which prevents them from turning into savages. Towards the end of the novel, when everyone has stopped following the rules and gone savage, Jack stole Piggy’s glasses which got Piggy to go confront Jack about it but nobody was listening to him and instead they were all booing him. The narrator then says,”The booing rose and died again as Piggy lifted the [conch].”(200). Then Piggy says, “Which is better --to be a pack of [painted savages] like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph.” (200). This passage shows that even tough all the kids had turned to savages and were all booing him, the conch that Piggy held up was enough to shut the kids up showing that the they still see the conch as a form of leadership and will continue to listen to whoever is holding it. Only the fact that the kids became quiet at the view of