The fear of the unknown can be a powerful force, which can turn you either to insight or hysteria. It can drive people to do mad things. The conch on the other hand brought them together to fight against this Beast that haunted their every thoughts of civilization.
The Beast, a creature that slowly came into existence from the minds of the littl"uns, slowly destroyed their society. It lead to the death of Simon, one who knew that the beast never existed, and that the beast was just a symbol of everybody's fear on the island.
The Beast is manifested in three forms throughout the story. Land, Air, and Water or maybe these are all of the fears, which plague them. Simon had said, ""what I mean is. Maybe it's only us.". Simon became inarticulate in his efforts to express mankind's essential illness." - (Golding 85).
This quote shows how Simon realizes that the Beastie is just a figment of our imaginations. Sadly, later on he is killed for this notion. The other kids do not believe him, and think that he is the beast. It seems that throughout the story, goodness never prevails.
"The Beast is the evil that resides within man." The children were all aware that such a beast exists, but none of them realized, except Simon that it lays within them. Manifested in three forms throughout the story, the Beast constantly plagues the littluns, being the cause that they were the least conditioned by society.
The conch shell is the first important discovery that Piggy and Ralph make on the island, and they use it to summon the littluns together after they are separated by the plane crash. As a result, the conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order. Its use is to bring order to the boys meetings. The boy who holds the shell is given the right to speak. .
As the civilization on the island decreases and savagery begins to dominate the boys, the conch shell loses its power. Ralph is taunted and pelted with stones when he attempts to blow it in Jack's camp at Castle Rock.