Outside of assemblies, the other boys sometimes fail to follow the rules. The shell becomes a symbol of democratic order as Ralph and Piggy turn it into an anchor to civilization. The conch stands for law and order in a democracy, where everyone has the right to be heard. The boys elect Ralph as leader and he declares that whoever holds the conch is the only person allowed to speak. After Ralph fishes the conch out of the ocean, he blows into it to summon all the boys on the island. Throughout this book, the conch symbolizes the rule of law. Throughout the book, the deteriorating respect for the conch parallels the descent from civilization to savagery. This rule of law separates civilization from savagery. Golding uses this shell to symbolize the rule of law, which in civilization, holds the evil nature of people in check. Two of the boys, Ralph and Piggy happen to come upon a conch shell. In Golding’s novel, “Lord of the Flies,” a group of English schoolboys are stranded on an island after their plane gets shot down.
