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The Conchs True Power

For centuries, philosophers have debated the question of whether man is innately evil. Thomas Hobbes spent years preaching his theory that men are naturally brutish, violent, and need an absolutist government to control them. John Locke believed that men are born Tabula Rasa (Blank Slate), meaning that we are born without ideas, and knowledge is only determined from experience. William Golding poses the very same question in his novel Lord of the Flies. Set on a tropical island during World War II, the novel begins when schoolboys from Great Britain are being flown to safety and their plane is shot down. With no adult survivors, the boys are left to fend for themselves and survive. Golding uses symbolism in the form of the conch to represent the concept of society. The boys changing relationship with the conch illustrates Goldings theme that humans, when removed from the rules of civilized society, will become evil in their natural state.The boys originally start out viewing the conch as an important item that unites them and gives them the strength to deal with their abnormal situation. When the conch is found and used, it brings all the boys together: Ralph found his breath and blew a series of short blasts. Piggy exclaimed, Theres one! (Golding 16). In this setting, Piggy sees one lone boy emerging from the jungle, but soon many boys gather from all around. This marks the first assembly during their stay on the island. Lost and confused, the boys hurry to elect a leader in an effort to unite even further. The conch is again used as an important piece. Ralph is soon chosen to be chief, mainly because he holds the conch. During a vote, the boys yell, Him with the shell. Ralph! Ralph! Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing (Golding 21). Ralph is chosen as chief because he possesses the conch, a symbol of authority. It is clear the Golding desires to portray the conch as an important object bringing order to the boys as they work together to survive.Eventually, however, the conch becomes less and less important to the boys, conveying their slow change to evil. When the boys first start a fire on top of a mountain, Piggy tries to speak by holding the conch. But Jack quickly interrupts him by saying, The conch doesnt count on top of the mountain, so you shut up (Golding 39). More and more boys begin to place rules on the conch and lose respect for it. Finally, one day at a meeting, Jack abolishes the use of the conch, thus diminishing the democratic order and authority that it provides. He says, We dont need the conch any more. We know who ought to say thinsIts time some people knew theyve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us (Golding 92). Jacks loud statement clearly links the end of the conch to a final change in the social order. Jack is slowly turning into a power-hungry dictator, preying on the fear of the other children. The influence of the conch is being completely taken over by mans evil compulsions.

The conch ultimately loses importance to all the boys but Piggy, and in turn, most of the boys become crazy savages. Piggy suggests to Ralph to call a meeting, but Ralph only laughs. Finally, after Piggy glasses are stolen, he tells Ralph, Blow the conch, blow as loud as you can. The forest reechoed; and birds lifted, crying out of the treetops, as on that first morning ages ago (Golding 154). Piggy believes and hopes that the authority of the conch will once again bring the boys together, and install social order, but only four boys end up meeting. The rest have gone savage, joining Jacks tribe. The ultimate goal of their last assemble is to retrieve Piggys glasses from Jack. They head to Castle Rock where Roger, the torturer and executioner of Jacks group, moves a boulder off the mountain and once and for all, destroys the conch and Piggy along with it, its one true supporter:The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he wentPiggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. (Golding 164-165)It is significant that the demolition of the conch happens alongside the boys first intentional act of murder, showing that their final descent into evil is complete. With the power of the conch destroyed, Jacks group is become total barbarians. The next day itself they would hunt down Ralph to kill him, leaving behind the taming effects of the conch forever.As clearly shown throughout the book at various times, William Golding uses the conch shell to convey the gradual transformation of the boys into madness and violence, thereby embodying the idea that humans will always have the capability to turn evil. At first, the conch unites everyone; but as its power deteriorates, the group breaks into two. Ultimately, the demolition of the conch signals the plummet into complete savagery. By following the conch in the story, we see how Golding uses it to link the main events of the story around his theme of unavoidable evil. As years pass, the debate whether man has an innate evil in him has not yet been solved, nor is it probable that it will ever be known. Human beings have a tendency to avoid and deny any possibility of wrongdoing in their lives. Golding steps out of that limited behavior, in order to confront the situation; Lord of the Flies is Goldings way of showing the world what he believes to be the truth: man truly is born evil, and once taken out of limiting and restricting society, mans natural behavior will emerge.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: The Putnam Publishing Group, 1954.