Lord of the Flies Group

Question:

chykira101
chykira101
Student
High School - 10th Grade

In Lord of the Flies, where does Ralph get the idea of using the conch?

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Posted by chykira101 on Wednesday March 4, 2009 at 9:37 PM and tagged with characters, conch, lord of the flies, ralph.

Answers:


  1. danylyshen Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    It is Piggy (representative of intellectualism in the novel) who gives Ralph the idea to make the conch into a tool of civilization.

    Piggy says, "It's a shell. I seen one like that before. On someone's back wall. a conch he called it. He used to blow it and then his mum would come. It's ever so valuable--" (11).

    The conch becomes a speaking stick and a trumpet of sorts, rallying the boys together so that Ralph and Jack can address the troops.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/flies/chapter-1-summary-analysis

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    Posted by danylyshen on Thursday March 5, 2009 at 6:43 AM


  2. robertwilliam

    eNotes Editor

    Like most of Ralph's other good ideas, it actually comes from Piggy. Ralph fishes it out of the water in the first chapter, towards the start, and Piggy immediately is the one who knows what it is and that it can be blown to make a sound:

    “What’s that?”
    Ralph had stopped smiling and was pointing into the lagoon. Something creamy lay among the ferny weeds.
    “A stone.”
    “No. A shell.’ ’ Suddenly Piggy was a-bubble with decorous excitement.
    “S’right. It’s a shell! I seen one like that before. On someone’s back wall. A conch he called it. He used to blow it and then his mum would
    come. It’s ever so valuable—”

    Ralph is fascinated by it without any real sense of how it might be used. And then Piggy has the really good idea, and immediately credits Ralph with having had it. As usual, Ralph passively accepts the credit:

    Piggy paused for breath and stroked the glistening thing that lay in Ralph’s hands.
    “Ralph!”
    Ralph looked up.
    “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us—”
    He beamed at Ralph.
    “That was what you meant, didn’t you? That’s why you got the conch out of the water?”

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/flies/summary

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    Posted by robertwilliam on Thursday March 5, 2009 at 7:24 AM

  3. nolan714
    nolan714 Student
    High School - 9th Grade

    Piggy tells him about how he blew one before 

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    Posted by nolan714 on Wednesday March 18, 2009 at 9:39 PM