Lord Of The Flies Conch Analysis

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Power, Order, and the Conch In every society there is some form of government or higher power. Something that is there to ensure everyone is following the rules of their community, and in the case of the book Lord of the Flies by author William Golding this higher power is the conch shell. It symbolizes order and power and in some cases a democracy on the island. Through the conch Goulding shows you without order civilization will fall. The conch is introduced into the book when Ralph blows it in the hopes the other stranded boys would follow the sound.”We can use this to call the others, have a meeting they'll come when they hear us.” You see for the first time the type of control and power the conch has and how when the conch was blown all of the…show more content…
Not only was the conch powerful but the person who possessed the conch was powerful too “ yet most powerful there was the conch. The being that had blown that was set apart.” when it was time for the boys to vote on their leader everyone but the choir boys agreed that Ralph would make the best leader strictly because he was the one who blew and was holding the conch. He was set apart and all the boys had this underlying understanding that the conch was important and not something to question.Another example of its power is when Ralph states that whoever is holding the conch has the right to speak and cannot be interrupted for example piggy said “i have the conch which means i have the right to speak”. All of the children immediately obey this rule and it shows you the power the conch has over the behavior of the boys there is no punishments on the island so they are willingly without fear following Ralph and the shell. The conch instills rules and symbolizes order into their community and the only reason this works is because the conch is seen as the highest power on the island so they respect it. As the book progresses you start to see how the power of the conch is being
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