Lord of the Flies: Journal #1

By: Simone Federici

Chapter: Sound of the Shell

Perspective: Ralph

The Conch

To me, the island was mysterious. The island was full of creepers, crawling on the uneven floors of the dense forest. Being on the island with only kids gave me feelings of fear and being unsecure. I knew that somehow I would have to step up and take control so this island wouldn’t be full of insane children and adolescents. The island had a particular scent coming from the swamps that put a grimace on my face when I first noticed it. After being on the island for a while though, the smell disappeared. The island was indeed windy, so I mostly heard trees and leaves being thrown around in the wind like sea grass in strong currents.

The mysterious island made me very curious, so as soon as I could I went out to explore. The dense forest was full of creepers and vines that tangled you up and pulled you to the forest floor where you then cut your hands on either thorns or sharp sticks. When I got out of the forest, a pond awaited. As I checked out the pond, I met a young fellow who I called Piggy. Piggy was fat and plump. To me he was a very interesting character. At first I thought of him as annoying, but realized that his knowledge could be of use to the island (I still thought he was annoying though.)

While wading in the pond, I finally decided to go in so I stripped off my clothes and took a dive into the murky pond water. As I sat on a rock in the pond, I found something very interesting. It was very heavy and looked like a giant shell the size of my head. Then I realized it was a conch shell. The outside had a rough texture, but the inside was a beautiful shade of smooth pink. When I blew through the conch, it bellowed out a deep sound like a horn. It was so loud that I was sure you’d be able to hear it from across the island… and indeed you could.

Very soon after I had blown the conch, other boys on the island approached us. When the boys approached I was surprised to see them all wearing black cloaks. The boys were part of a choir. The leader of the choir was named Jack. He was very tall and acted maturely. Later, we took a vote to see who should be the leader. As I had predicted, I was selected as the leader to run the group of boys. Simon was another boy that came along. He was shy, but felt the need and want to help out the community. After a while of talking, we had a leadership board being formed of me, Jack and Simon. Piggy wanted to be a part of it, and we considered, but did not consider him officially apart of the group.

After that Jack, Simon and I went to explore the island and stood on top of a mountain that overlooked the whole island. We could see that it was just the boys and the island. The four of us stood gazing over the island looking at beautiful beaches and coral reefs all because of the call of the conch.