The first impression someone makes is mainly based on his or her physical appearance and personality. In the novel “Lord of the Flies”, one of the central characters, Piggy, is often ridiculed based on what they see in his physical appearance. In addition, they keep picking on him even though he often contributes good ideas to the group. Although Piggy’s intelligent, they treat him the way they do as a result of him hiding behind his physical appearance and not asserting himself to the group. Piggy has many attributes, which makes him the perfect target for the boys ridicule. These include the fact that he has asthma or “ass-mar” as the boys call it, is overweight, and has poor vision. These attributes make him feel self-conscience of his
"Piggy saw the smile and misinterpreted it as friendliness. There had grown up tacitly among the biguns the opinion that Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labour." (Golding 68)
Piggy’s physical appearance contributes to his position as an outsider within the society of boys. When Piggy and Ralph first meet, Ralph remarks on Piggy’s shortness of breath to which Piggy responds, ¨ That’s right. Can’t catch my breath. I was the only boy in our school what had asthma, said the fat boy with a touch of pride, ‘And I’ve been wearing specs since I was three¨ (Golding 9). This quote describes Piggy as a fat boy with asthma and glasses, while the other boys are skinny and do not share any of the same characteristics as him. In addition, the author contributes to the outcasting Piggy by never revealing his real name and only describing Piggy as the “fat boy.” This proves that in this society, Piggy is not worth getting to
The boys bullying Piggy in the novel seems insignificant, but Golding illustrates that it shows the boys, humanity, will belittle others for our own benefit, no matter how devastating it is on the person. From the very beginning, Piggy is made fun of, which is ironic, as they do so because they would not want to be made fun of. This is exhibited when Piggy was,
Piggy in The Lord of the Flies was a very smart, yet unheard, voice. He was a friend to Ralph, and if listened, to he probably would have changed the outcome of the book. In Lord of the Flies, Piggy can be seen as an outcast in three different ways. The first way was that he was never able to talk. He was never given attention, and had to demand attention even with the conch. The next way was how he was excluded from physical activities because of his “ass-mar”. The final way is how unimportant he was as a person compared to how important his belongings and ideas are.
us how Piggy is sectioned from the est of the group due to his social
The agony that Piggy is put through due to his looks acts as a vulnerability. Though that maybe his weakness, his strength, on the other hand, is his mind. His ability to come up with ideas keeps the society together and running. “‘Ralph!’ Ralph looked up. ‘We can use this to call the others. Have a
In the book, Lord of the Flies, the character Piggy is seen as an outcast. Piggy is different in his looks, intellect, and role in the group. There are many instances within the book to further show his experience on and off the island to be different from the rest of the boys. Because of the differences from Piggy to the rest of the boys, Piggy is shown as more of an outsider or outcast throughout the book.
Sometimes, intelligence can be a great use, but it is never heard. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, that intelligence is Piggy. Piggy, is a significant use in the island, he gives great ideas but end up being incompetent, he is trying to be heard and to be part of the group. Piggy is motivated by gaining respect from the other boys, and because he is always rejected, this makes him think more in depth about what is happening on the island and how the boys are changing. As a result, he embraces civilization and the protection it provides.
This is mainly because Piggy has little physical ability and can't work too hard his explanation is, "on account of my asthma" (pg. 4). But, throughout the story, he is and advisor to Ralph and many good ideas come from him like making a list of people to keep role. Piggy being the advisor to the leader continues to remind Ralph about the fire and to keep everyone civilized. He kept true to his role even after the groups split up and Ralph's group was struggling to keep the fire going, he still continued to be an advisor and said he couldn't go find
Despite him being so intelligent he the most vulnerable from the book because of his poor eyesight, weight problems and asthma. By constantly quoting his aunt, he also provides the only feminine voice. Piggy's intellect benefits the group only through Ralph he acts as Ralph's advisor. Piggy tries to keep life scientific except for the incident, "searching for a formula" to explain the death.
Piggy stays somewhat static as a good and civilized boy, like some others (e.g. Simon). However, Piggy’s character change involves his entitlement of civility and his specific separation from the rest of the boys. “‘Like kids!’ he said scornfully. ‘Acting like a crowd of kids!’” (38). This quote exhibits Piggy’s nature of judgment over the other boys’ rashness and establishes his entitlement over the other boys early on. This creates a barrier of sorts, as Piggy might not feel tempted to interact the same way because he is “better than that.” Piggy is also directly characterized as the outsider of the group: “There had grown up tacitly among the biguns the opinion that Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labor” (65). In a sense, Piggy is separated from the overall group of boys by his physical and character traits. Piggy also has this emphasized character trait of being myopic. Once Piggy’s specs are destroyed, not only is Piggy literally blind but symbolically as well. This, in turn, means the group is also blind, as Piggy was the only character that seemed to provide a substantial amount of rational thinking and ideas. This leads to irrational thoughts to flow free, like Jack’s ideology of madness and
This symbolized that piggy and the other kids would not get along what so ever and it also expressed his personality. He is also unsure about himself and respects what others people think about him the evidence behind this is because he yearns to be accepted by his peers. He has also lost all hope in people rescuing him. Unlike the other kids piggy is the only one who is still civilized and all the others turn into savages and bet each other up as the story states ‘’Samneric were savages like the rest; Piggy was dead, and the conch smashed to powder’’(Golden 268). But when Jacks tribe steals piggy’s glasses it renders him hopeless.
In his time on the island, certain events that occur help Piggy change in a positive way. Piggy has always been they boy that gets left behind and ignored. His voice is never heard. Some people will lose character if they were stuck on a deserted island but that's not the case here, he found his true identification. Most of the time, the children would pick on Piggy and tease him.
Out of all of the boys on the island, Piggy is the only boy who cares most about getting off the island. He also attaches himself to the conch, which represents order, and surrounds himself in items that symbolize order. Because of all of this, Piggy chooses to accept civilization with open arms. For example, Piggy always says “‘You haven’t got the conch!’” ( 11 . 29) whenever the boys forget the purpose of the conch. The conch represents order and their rules on the island. Whenever they are broken, Piggy tries to reinforce its purpose and bring back their ‘government’. Another item Piggy is attached to that represents civilization are his glasses. “Here-let me go! His voice rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched the glasses off his face.
Piggy is one of the smartest boys on the island, however the other boys bully him and don’t take him seriously (or as a joke), this is due to his physical appearance He is fat, wears spectacles, has "ass-mar", is against fun and hunting, and almost irritatingly worthy. He's also a social outcast