Conch Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

The meaning of the conch to Jack was also extremely important in Lord of the Flies. Jack had always been power hungry since the beginning of the book. At first, he refused to show that side of himself to anyone else. His fear of letting others see his true self had made him adapt some respect towards the conch. This was demonstrated when Jack proposed to have another election for chief and had loss to Ralph once again. “He laid the conch with great care in the grass at his feet. The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye”(127). Even though Jack was upset that the boys didn’t want him to be chief, he still treated the conch with care. He could have easily thrown the shell with anger. This was when Jack first started to think that the conch was in his way of

Although this might have seemed like such a little thing to worry about, this caused Jack to feel like he was finally filling up his eagerness for power. As the book went on, he started to become more animalistic. One quote that revealed his feelings towards the conch was when it was destroyed. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist”(181). Even though Roger was the one who killed Piggy, his death was intentional. From the book, it can be inferred that the boys in Jack’s tribe, including himself, had all agreed, or forced to agree, to kill Piggy. Jack didn’t think of the conch as anything special with meaning anymore. When the conch was smashed into pieces, so was any little hope of civilization. Jack had finally gotten the power that he desperately desired by getting rid of the conch. Despite the fact that Jack didn’t want the conch around anymore, it was still an important factor that helped him reach to the top and eventually rule all of the boys, with or without their