Symbolism

Symbol: The Conch

When Piggy first finds the conch, it is made known how valuable and important it is:
"A conch he called it. He used to blow it and then his mum would
come. It’s ever so valuable(...)a conch; ever so expensive. I bet if you wanted to buy one, you’dhave to pay pounds and pounds and pounds—"

The conch's sound is very loud and dominating: "His ordinary voice sounded like a whisper after the harsh note of the conch."

Right before it is decided that the conch will represent silence while someone is talking: “'Shutup,' said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. 'Seems to me weought to have a chief to decide things.'”

Before Ralph was voted to be chief: "There was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch. The being that had blown that, had sat waiting for them on the platform with the delicate thing balanced on his knees, was set apart."

An example of how all the boys continually respond to the conch for what it represents: "They obeyed the summons of the conch, partly because Ralph blew it, and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority."

Analysis:

To me, the conch represents multiple things. It represents leadership, unification, and order.

The first sign of the conch being a leadership symbol is when everyone looked at Ralph holding it, and just decided that they would vote for him as chief, because he not only held it, but he also was the one that found it to call the initial meeting.

In addition, the conch was used as a way to call meetings and to silence everyone while talking. It became a symbol of unification. When the conch was blown and brought to the meeting, everyone gathered around it. At these meetings, the group tried to figure out ways to get rescued and to solve problems together.

Finally, by being used as a silencer and the way in which people knew to assemble, the conch represents order. It served as a way to flaunt a rule. Everyone understood that whoever had the conch talked, while no else should.