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Lord of the Flies - Character Analysis: Piggy

Decent Essays

* Examine the significance of the character Piggy in the novel “Lord of The Flies” consider his purpose, key role and relationship with the other boys at important points in the novel.
To mimic men’s actions and lost of civility in times of war and need, William Golding, narrates a story in which all characters are boys, with the intention of taking the reader through the journey made by those who descend to savagery when facing certain conditions. This essay is going to explore and explain the symbolism behind one of the novel’s main characters and how his presence influences other characters’ actions and the way things turn out. Piggy is a Short and heavyset boy who wears spectacles and is disadvantaged by asthma. At first he …show more content…

His character is related to a great part of the symbolism used by Golding and has a very important role in preventing the descent from civilization to savagery, however, he sadly he witnesses the turnover. Piggy's glasses represent many different ideas. The initial importance of the specs is that they represent the ability to make fire, which they hoped would provide the rescue they needed. Piggy’s glasses also signify Piggy's ability to see literally and figuratively. Without them, he is helpless and blind. He is unable to serve as well as Ralph's right-hand man and voice of logic. When Piggy is "blinded" it symbolizes the blindness of the Jack's tribe to the evil to which they are succumbing. Piggy's murder completes the boys’ lost of sight (figuratively speaking) and forces them into total darkness, which leads to the hunting of Ralph. When his glasses are broken and he tragically dies, so does what is left of order and civilization in the island. Of all the forms of symbolism present in the book, Piggy’s character carries a relation to many of them. To being with, his nickname isn’t only related to his physical structure, but it also suggests vulnerability, like the pigs on the island that rapidly become Jack’s targets. Another important symbolic element related to Piggy is

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