What Does the Conch Symbolize in Lord of the Flies?

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses a conch, or a large, milky-white shell, to symbolize a civilized
society that regulates itself through democratic engagement. Initially, the boys use the conch to establish
a society reminiscent of their familiar British social order: a civil society founded on discourse and
consensus. The parallel is immediately clear: one boy recalls that at the airport, a man issued
instructions through a “trumpet thing” – an instrument similar to a conch. Shortly after finding the
conch, Ralph uses it to summon the other boys on the island and call a meeting. The shell’s power is
apparent, and the boys immediately embrace the idea of democracy: “this toy of voting was almost as
pleasing as the conch.” After exploring the island, Ralph declares the boys will raises their hands in
meetings, “like at school,” in order to speak. Once holding the conch each boy will be able to express his
thoughts without interruption. “We’ll have rules… lots of rules!” Ralph announces. The boys’ initial
enthusiasm for the democratic process imbues the conch with great power as a mode of
communication, as the boys unilaterally agree that the conch symbolizes a familiar and worthwhile ideal.

The conch is a symbol of free speech and civil process that even the youngest boy can easily grasp and
embrace, but the concepts themselves prove more difficult to adhere to in practice, and soon the
conch’s power wanes as the boys resist the constraints of the democratic process. Ralph grows frustrated
that the meetings he uses the conch to assemble don’t actually accomplish much. While the boys agree
to his plans for their society in principle, the rules are impossible to enforce, since there are no
consequences for disobedience. Jack suggests an alternate form of governance: “We don’t need the
conch anymore. We know who ought to say things… it’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep
quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us,” he says. This introduces the idea of totalitarianism, or a
civilization in which citizens do not share power equally. Unlike a democracy, which works on the basis of
voluntary participation, despotic monarchy, or totalitarianism, harshly punishes disobedience. In this way
the conch represents the limitations of enforcing democracy as well as the possibility democracy
represents.

The conch also serves as a symbol of the power, and vulnerability, of symbols themselves. The conch
represents civil discourse on the island, and only works as long as the boys all believe in its power and
the necessity of the idea it symbolizes. Both literally and symbolically the conch is a fragile, vulnerable
object, which is why Piggy, Ralph, and even Jack treat it with care. Once Jack gets a taste of power,
however, and realizes he can effectively control the boys through violence, both actual and implied, he
loses his belief in the conch as a symbol. The abstract attractions of fairness and civility pale in
comparison to the rush of killing pigs and torturing boys. When Jack raids Ralph’s camp, he ignores the
conch and steals Piggy’s glasses instead. Unlike the conch, which only has power as a symbol, the glasses
have actual utility. With the means to light the fire and a willingness to enforce his rule through violence,
Jack has no need to participate in the democratic process. The boys soon follow him in abandoning the
agreed-upon symbolism of the conch in favor of the undemocratic governance by absolute power Jack
 represents, which relies on violence instead of symbols.
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Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

Problem of Evil

Lord of the Flies was driven by "Golding's consideration of human evil, a complex topic that involves an
examination not only of human nature but also the causes, effects, and manifestations of evil. It
demands also a close observation of the methods or ideologies humankind uses to combat evil and
whether those methods are effective. Golding addresses these topics through the intricate allegory of his
novel.

When Lord of the Flies was first released in 1954, Golding described the novel's theme in a publicity
questionnaire as "an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature." In his
1982 essay A Moving Target, he stated simply "The theme of Lord of the Flies is grief, sheer grief, grief,
grief." The novel ends of course with Ralph grieving the indelible mark of evil in each person's heart, an
evil he scarcely suspected existed before witnessing its effects on his friends and supporters. The former
schoolboys sought unthinkingly to dominate others who were not of their group. They discovered within
themselves the urge to inflict pain and enjoyed the accompanying rush of power. When confronted with
a choice between reason's civilizing influence and animality's self-indulgent savagery, they choose to
abandon the values of the civilization that Ralph represents.

This same choice is made constantly all over the world, all throughout history — the source of the grief
Golding sought to convey. He places supposedly innocent schoolboys in the protected environment of an
uninhabited tropical island to illustrate the point that savagery is not confined to certain people in
particular environments but exists in everyone as a stain on, if not a dominator of, the nobler side of
human nature. Golding depicts the smallest boys acting out, in innocence, the same cruel desire for
mastery shown by Jack and his tribe while hunting pigs and, later, Ralph. The adults waging the war that
marooned the boys on the island are also enacting the desire to rule others.

Ironically, by giving rein to their urge to dominate, the boys find themselves in the grip of a force they
can neither understand nor acknowledge. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon "Fancy thinking the Beast was
something you could hunt and kill!" and then laughs at the boys' efforts to externalize their savagery in
the form of an animal or other fearsome creature. Simon has the revelation that evil isn't simply a
component of human nature, but an active element that seeks expression.

Outlets for Violence

Most societies set up mechanisms to channel aggressive impulses into productive enterprises or
projects. On the island, Jack's hunters are successful in providing meat for the group because they tap
into their innate ability to commit violence. To the extent that this violence is a reasoned response to the
group's needs (for example, to feed for the population), it produces positive effects and outcomes.
However, when the violence becomes the motivator and the desired outcome lacks social or moral value
beyond itself, as it does with the hunters, at that point the violence becomes evil, savage, and diabolical.

Violence continues to exist in modern society and is institutionalized in the military and politics. Golding
develops this theme by having his characters establish a democratic assembly, which is greatly affected
by the verbal violence of Jack's power-plays, and an army of hunters, which ultimately forms a small
military dictatorship. The boys' assemblies are likened to both ends of the social or civil spectrum, from
pre-verbal tribe gatherings to modern governmental institutions, indicating that while the forum for
politics has changed over the millennia, the dynamic remains the same.

Civilization vs. Savagery

The central concern of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between two competing impulses that exist within
all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the
good of the group against the instinct to gratify one’s immediate desires, act violently to obtain
supremacy over others, and enforce one’s will. This conflict might be expressed in a number of ways:
civilization vs. savagery, order vs. chaos, reason vs. impulse, law vs. anarchy, or the broader heading of
good vs. evil. Throughout the novel, Golding associates the instinct of civilization with good and the
instinct of savagery with evil.

The conflict between the two instincts is the driving force of the novel, explored through the dissolution
of the young English boys’ civilized, moral, disciplined behavior as they accustom themselves to a wild,
brutal, barbaric life in the jungle. Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, which means that Golding
conveys many of his main ideas and themes through symbolic characters and objects. He represents the
conflict between civilization and savagery in the conflict between the novel’s two main characters: Ralph,
the protagonist, who represents order and leadership; and Jack, the antagonist, who represents savagery
and the desire for power.

As the novel progresses, Golding shows how different people feel the influences of the instincts of
civilization and savagery to different degrees. Piggy, for instance, has no savage feelings, while Roger
seems barely capable of comprehending the rules of civilization. Generally, however, Golding implies
that the instinct of savagery is far more primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of
civilization. Golding sees moral behavior, in many cases, as something that civilization forces upon the
individual rather than a natural expression of human individuality. When left to their own devices,
Golding implies, people naturally revert to cruelty, savagery, and barbarism. This idea of innate human
evil is central to Lord of the Flies, and finds expression in several important symbols, most notably the
beast and the sow’s head on the stake. Among all the characters, only Simon seems to possess anything
like a natural, innate goodness.

Loss of Innocence

As the boys on the island progress from well-behaved, orderly children longing for rescue to cruel,
bloodthirsty hunters who have no desire to return to civilization, they naturally lose the sense of
innocence that they possessed at the beginning of the novel. The painted savages in Chapter 12 who
have hunted, tortured, and killed animals and human beings are a far cry from the guileless children
swimming in the lagoon in Chapter 3. But Golding does not portray this loss of innocence as something
that is done to the children; rather, it results naturally from their increasing openness to the innate evil
and savagery that has always existed within them. Golding implies that civilization can mitigate but never
wipe out the innate evil that exists within all human beings. The forest glade in which Simon sits in
Chapter 3 symbolizes this loss of innocence. At first, it is a place of natural beauty and peace, but when
Simon returns later in the novel, he discovers the bloody sow’s head impaled upon a stake in the middle
of the clearing. The bloody offering to the beast has disrupted the paradise that existed before—a
powerful symbol of innate human evil disrupting childhood innocence.

Struggle to build civilization

The struggle to build civilization forms the main conflict of Lord of the Flies. Ralph and Piggy believe that
structure, rules, and maintaining a signal fire are the greatest priorities, while Jack believes hunting,
violence, and fun should be prioritized over safety, protection, and planning for the future. While initially
the boys, including Jack, agree to abide by Ralph’s rules and democratic decision-making, the slow and
thoughtful process of building an orderly society proves too difficult for many of the boys. They don’t
want to help build the shelters, maintain the signal fire, or take care of the littluns. The immediate fun
and visceral rewards of hunting, chanting, and dancing around the fire are more attractive than the work
of building a sustainable society. Near the end of the novel, even Ralph is tempted by Jack’s authoritarian
regime, regularly forgetting why the fire and rescue is so important.

Man’s inherent evil

The fact that the main characters in Lord of the Flies are young boys suggests the potential for
evil is inherent even in small children. Jack, for example, is initially keen for rules and civility, but
becomes obsessed with hunting, frightened and empowered by the promise of violence. Jack’s
desire to control and subjugate proves more powerful than his desire for empathy, intellect, and
civilization, and Jack becomes a brutal and leader. Even Ralph and Piggy, who both strive to
maintain their sense of humanity, ultimately join in on the mass murder of Simon, momentarily
surrendering to the thrill of violence and mass hysteria. While Piggy tries to ignore their
participation, Ralph is devastated when he realizes that he is no better than Jack or Roger, and
that he has a darkness inside as well.

But the character of Simon suggests humans can resist their inherently violent tendencies. The only boy
who never participates in the island’s savagery, Simon has the purest moral code and is able to remain an

individual throughout Lord of the Flies. While the others consider him weak and strange, Simon stands

up for Piggy and the littluns, helps Ralph build the shelters, and provides thoughtful and insightful

assessment of their predicament. Simon recognizes that the beast is not a physical beast, but perhaps

the darkness and innate brutality within the boys themselves. After a terrifying conversation with the

Lord of the Flies, Simon recognizes the paratrooper as a symbol of fear and the boys as agents of evil,

and runs to tell the others. But Simon is never able to properly explain this to the other boys before they

beat him to death in a frenzy of excitement and fear.

Dangers of mob mentality

Lord of the Flies explores the dangers of mob mentality in terrifying scenes of violence and torture. Early

on, the boys sing “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood,” after a successful hunt, elevating their

shared act of violence into a celebratory chant. By coming together as a mob, the boys transform the

upsetting experience of killing an animal into a bonding ritual. Acting as one group, the boys are able to

commit worse and worse crimes, deluding one another into believing in the potential danger posed by

the beast justifies their violence. Similarly, the boys use warpaint to hide their identities as individuals,

and avoid personal responsibility. Ralph, Piggy and Samneric both fear and envy the hunters’ “liberation

into savagery.” Their desire to be part of the group leads to voluntary participation in the ritualistic dance

and brutal killing of Simon. The mob’s shared irrational fear and proclivity toward violence results in a

devastating act of ultimate cruelty.

War and the future of mankind

Set during a global war, Lord of the Flies offers a view of what society might look like trying to rebuild

after a largescale manmade catastrophe. In their attempt to rebuild society, the boys cannot agree on a

new order and eventually fall into savagery. Ralph comes to realize that social order, fairness and

thoughtfulness have little value in a world where basic survival a struggle, such as after a devastating

war. The paratrooper who lands on the island reminds the reader that while the boys are struggling to

survive peacefully on the island, the world at large is still at war. Even in their isolation and youth, the

boys are unable to avoid violence. In their descent into torture and murder, they mirror the warring

world around them.