The Conch Shell In Lord Of The Flies, By William Golding

In the novel, Lord of the Flies, Ralph is the first to become leader of the other boys and sets the rules. When Ralph becomes leader he states, “We’ll have rules!” He cried excitedly. “Lots of rules! (Golding 33). This shows that Ralph took the position as leader and he creates a mini democracy so that everyone's thoughts

The Lord of the Flies is a gruesome story about young boys stranded on an island, who underwent a transformation from polite British choir boys to savage hooligans. One of the main difficulties the boys face during their adventures upon the island, is their method of government, they either follow the path of Ralph, the democratic leader whose main focus is to escape the despairing island; or Jack a power-hungry monarchical leader who won't ever take no for an answer. The two boys are constantly bickering and arguing over who deserves the leader-position. We all understand Ralph wants to be leader so that he can ensure that the boys will return back home, but in Jack's case, it is a constant mystery to us about why he

Lord of the Flies’ Red Tape "All this I meant to say. Now I've said it. You voted me for chief. Now you do what I say." (Golding 73) When the boys became aware that they were stranded on an island that had no adults, rules, or order they decided to recreate a similar society they were living in by appointing Ralph leader simply because he was the one who blew the conch and was the most handsome out of all of them.

“...the most obvious leader was Jack. But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out. There was his size, and his attractive appearance. And most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch.” This quote from page 22 in Lord of the Flies begins to illustrate the early struggle for power between Ralph and Jack on the island. From the start, it was a battle between the two boys regarding who was most qualified to take charge and step up as chief. William Golding argues that power is something that comes with responsibility, and struggle. The responsibility that falls on Ralph’s shoulders is tremendous, and there is a very clear struggle for power throughout the novel, which we will later explore.

Ralph possesses the leadership skill of responsibility. Responsibility is being accountable for something or someone. In the first chapter of Lord of the Flies Ralph takes on the responsibility of being the leader on the island and the responsibility of setting rules. “We’ve got to have special people for looking after the fire. Any day there may be a ship out there…and if we have a signal going they’ll come and take us off. And another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here as down there.” (Golding, pg.42) This quote shows how Ralph was taking on the responsibility of being the leader and of setting more rules. He establishes the rules and arranges meetings with his group to make sure everything is running smooth. Ralph also tries to make the “littluns” feel safe from the beast. Ralph tries to make sure that everyone on the island feels like they are safe

Ralph possesses the ability to take responsibility and maintain organization on the island. He first takes leadership on the island when the kids vote to have him lead the group, he is voted as chief, "Shut up, said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things. ‘A chief! A chief!’” ( Golding, pg 22) Ralph starts to take leadership as he organizes the group with authority using the conch. Ralph does this because he knows that there is not any adults on the island to take charge. "'And another thing. We can't have everybody talking at once. We'll have to have 'Hands up' like at school.' He held the conch before his face and glanced round the mouth.' Then I'll give him the conch.''Conch?' 'That's what this thing is called. I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking.'"(Golding, pg 33) Ralph uses a school-like system to maintain the kids on the island. As Ralph holds organization, he is also responsible for things happening on the island.

In the novel, Lord of the flies the conch shell represents power or in other words law and order. This novel carries out a civilization vs savagery theme. In Lord of the flies the characters are very dynamic and use the conch shell to overpower one another. The conch shell may show corruption or it may show alignment

In the novel of Lord Of The Flies shows a progression in which the government shows order at one point and chaos at another. The boy voted Ralph as leader of the group at the beginning of the novel, but then the character Jack, who opposed Ralph because things didn't go his way. This causes a distance between the group members, lead to chaos.

vote for Ralph to be chief just because he was the one with the Conch.

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of boys are stranded on an island with no adults whatsoever. It is up to the boys to find food, shelter, and water. On top of that, they also need a leader to prevent chaos. All the kids take a vote and a leader is chosen: Ralph. All though they have a leader, there are still many problems on the island, even some that result in death. The boys are put in some situations that they could handle better than they do, but in the end they are half insane, stranded on an island by themselves. The boys are not to blame for their crimes.

One of the main leaders in Lord of the Flies is Ralph. Since the start of the story Ralph had shown some great leadership qualities. He was able to keep a level head and win support in a small vote to be leader. He proves to be very supportive and caring in many times in the story. “And I work all day with nothing but Simon and you come back and don't even notice the huts” (Golding 54). Proving that he can make the sacrifice of working all day to provide a needed structure to survive on the island. The huts him and Simon build brought much needed calm to the little kids stranded on the island with them. Ralph also shows his ability to think for the best of the group and listen to his group members. An example of this would be when Piggy suggested to move the signal fire to the beach, due to how far the top of the mountain was. With many of the kids that were scared to climb up the mountain he was reasonably able to decide to move the fire to the beach.

Ralph and Jack are very different leaders in many different ways regarding themselves as people and as leaders on the island. Both leaders display very different versions of a human act in this book. Ralph is a person who acts more with ego, which is the most controlled part of human actions like being more civilized and organized with decisions regarding the island. He does this by assigning different roles to the littluns like the ones that are responsible for shelter, the hunters, and fire keepers. Jack, on the other hand, acts more with the ID, the animal part of a human, with his decisions as a leader. Jack favors, food over the shelter, which is the total opposite of Ralph, in fact, that is what he promises his people when the split of the two “tribes”. He told all the littluns that he promises feasts of meat every night and a lot of fun. In chapter five of Lord of the Flies gives a great idea of how Ralph is like as a leader. When he calls the littluns with the conch shell and has to remind the littluns about the rules he says, “‘The rules!’ shouted Ralph. ‘You’re breaking the rules!’” (Golding 108). In this event, Piggy was holding the conch and the others weren’t respecting

Despite being written fifty-four years apart, the novels Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, and Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, share common elements of Literature. These books are both very similar, but, one is more popular than the other. Lord of the Flies and Little Brother have similar themes and character development with one book being more appealing to the common time than the other. The similarity that sticks out the most is the common theme between the two books.

Some actions made my individuals not only has an effect on the people around them, but the objects close by as well. This important object or sign, can all be based upon the people using it, and also be in relation to its environment and surroundings. In the novel, The Lord of the Flies, the author, William Golding uses a conch shell to represent different meanings throughout his novel. The message in each of the different meanings of the conch, show how a group of young, British boys are changing their behavior and personality deeper into the novel. The conch in the Lord of the Flies, begins as a sign of authority, becomes a symbol of disorganization, and concludes to transform into a weapon of death.

The discovery of the conch led to Ralph taking on the role of leadership. From the very beginning of the novel when Ralph meets Piggy and they find the conch, Ralph decides that he should be the one to blow the conch. “Ralph took the shell from Piggy” (Golding 16) without asking and proceed to attempt at blowing the conch. Ralph does not give Piggy a chance to try new things. Piggy had explained to Ralph how he was unable to blow the conch back home because his auntie did not allow him to on account of his asthma. In this instance Ralph was being a poor leader by not encouraging Piggy to try new things and reach out of his comfort zone. When Ralph does not have the shell in the beginning of the novel he is not responsible, but when he does obtain the shell he gains the leadership qualities that he needs to lead the group of boys. When Ralph exclaims "Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things" (Golding 22) to the boys, is when Ralph decides that he is going to be taking on responsibility as leader to keep the island in order. What Ralph signs up to do is proven to be a much harder task than he perceives later on in the novel.