Comment on the significance of the Conch in the Lord of the Flies and Trace the continuing importance of it throughout the novel.
            
             The Lord of the Flies is a book about a large group of boys marooned on a remote tropical island. At the beginning they are all very excited at the prospect of no adults and no rules, but they all start disagreeing about things such as the building of the huts or the hunting and the social stability of the island starts to crumble. The conch is made to be a very significant item to the boys; Ralph is the one to find it with Piggy, here the conch is seen to be a fun play thing something to be looked at and admired.
             "In colour the shell was deep cream, touched here and there with fading pink. Between the point, worn away into a little hole, and the pink lips of the mouth, lay eighteen inches of shell with a slight spiral twist and covered with a delicate, embossed pattern"
             Piggy then immediately assumes that Ralph got the Conch out to call the others, this shows of how he already looks up to Ralph, that he thinks that Ralph had thought ahead, maybe thought more like an adult would instead of an excited child who wanted to play with it. He is the one who gives the idea to Ralph though, and Ralph does not correct him. The importance of the shell is not really established until the second meeting when they decide on the rule of no speaking unless you have the conch.
             "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking ...And he won't be interrupted. Except by me."
             Here is where they start to introduce order among them, they all get excited about having rules and they all obey the rule of the conch dutifully. They are all eager to make rules and play being the eldest and most responsible, Piggy though, is the only one to mention anything about being rescued and that no one knows that they are here. He is the one who brings everyone back ...