How does the conch in lord of the flies represent power?

Answer 1

Piggy and Ralph discover the conch together- as it is Piggy who sees it and identifies what it is but Ralph who fishes it out of the water. Thi si the start of their relationship where Piggy theorises and uses his wosdom, yet Ralph is the one who takes action and actually gets things done.

The conch then continues to be a symbol of order and civilized society throughout the novel, as the one thing that the boys follow and brongs them together into their meetings. However, near the end of the novel as it is shattered during Piggy's death it demonstates the complete breakdown of society and turn to savagery.

Throughout the novel power belongs to the person with the conch up until the end,,where even though Piggy is holding th conch nobody listens to him and he is eventually murdered. This could show a range of things. One is that at this point society has a;ready broken down and not even the conch can stop the decent into savagery. Another is that it is Piggy who is too weak to wield the conch, and it needs to be in the right hands to mean anything.

Answer 2

Nothing. No other symbol in Lord of the Flies holds so much power and can replace the conch. The conch is the only tool that can call a meeting and on the island you must have the conch to speak in the assembly. This shows how everybody seem to think how power, leadership and responsibility come from the conch. And this was the reason why Jack smashes the conch in lord of the flies.