Conch Lord Of The Flies Essay

In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, several young boys end up crashing on a deserted island and have to fend for themselves and try to work together in order to survive and be rescued. Throughout their experience on the island, there are objects like the conch that prove to be more than a shell, and the Lord of the Flies is shown to be a sow’s head. In the end both of the objects share a certain power that is displayed to the boys; some in different ways and others the same, and how power of these two objects can contribute to the theme of the book. In Lord of the Flies, the conch has the power to show order and leadership, on the contrary the sow’s head has the power of persuasion and turning one into a savage. The first object that is displayed in the book is the conch, “A conch he

He used to blow it and then his mum would come…” (15) After this point, the conch become very valuable and is what calls the boys to the meeting. Throughout the book, the conch shows how it influences the boys with its power. In this case, the conch holds the power of order, and Ralph in particular make it so that whoever is holding the conch has the power to speak. With order desperately needed on the island and among the boys, the conch gives them the idea to vote for a leader, and “this toy of voting was almost as pleasing as the conch.” (22) This scene shows how the conch gave them the right to speak their own mind, one at a time, and this lead to the process of voting; thus giving them the power of order and control. The power of order and control was used mostly by Ralph and Jack who both had different ways of order, and also had different opinions about the conch. Ralph said that the conch can be used anywhere on the island but was contradicted by Jack who said it wasn’t to be used at his end of the island. The conch also gives the power of authority, the boys “obeyed the summons