lord of the flies piggy analysis Essay

The book is filled with dark, gruesome moments. Moments that leave the reader with a destroyed faith in humanity. At surface value this is all true, but after looking deeper into the book many values are present. These value pertain to societal change and conformity. In the book, Piggy is the stereotypical fat boy with the glasses. The book portrays Piggy to be the victim of the society the boys have established on their small island. Despite what he has been through, Piggy makes an effort to contribute to the society the boys have built. The book says, “Piggy was … so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society … that he helped to fetch wood.” (Golding 186). The book also contains values of conformity for the better. The book tells of Jack who became upset with the tribe. He decides that he will break away from the tribe and invites everyone but Ralph to join him. One by one all the boys follow Jack to restart their society; leaving Ralph behind. The boys in the new tribe began to succeed more while Ralph begins to struggle. If Jack did not break away, then that success would have been

"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)

At the beginning of the book, Piggy’s glasses are a symbol of his physical weakness which set him apart from the other boys. The boys in school made fun of his “intelligence” and underestimated what he was actually capable of. “Piggy wiped his glasses and adjusted them on his button nose. The frame had made a deep, pink V on the bridge”(Golding 5). This quote informs the reader that Piggy’s glasses are an important part of his identity. Another weakness is that Piggy would be blind and a burden to the group if it wasn’t for his glasses. “Mind out! Give ‘em back! I can hardly see” (Golding 40)!

From the beginning of the book, Piggy is represented as a realist and pragmatic character. The boys are stranded on the island with no adults, yet throughout the book, Piggy acts as an adult. Everything Piggy does is well thought out, and logical. He is the ‘brains behind the operation’. We see this throughout the book. clearly, Piggy is a static character. Piggy continues to have faith in technology and uses his brains to help everyone, and that’s how he is from beginning to end.

According to the book, Piggy is a young British boy physically vulnerable to all the boys because of his asthma, being overweight and having to wear glasses. “Piggy wiped his glasses and adjusted them on his button nose. The frame had made

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

Wilbur the Pig, in the popular Children’s book Charlotte’s Web, is ironically similar to Piggy, because both wanted love. The

He wants to take time to listen to other people’s ideas even the littluns. Ralph and the others don’t feel the need to let them talk or give them the right to talk. Piggy insisted Ralph to give the conch to him. Piggy is compassionate for the others. When the fire got out of hand he was the only one to notice that some of the kids may have been hurt. He cares about others rather than just himself and is willing to listen to everyone. He tries hard to make things work out for the better.

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.

When Ralph is trying to get the group back together he states, “Piggy could think. He could go step by step inside that fat head of his, only Piggy was no chief”(Golding 78). This shows how Piggy was the one that did all the thinking. This is important because even though he is not chief, he is the one that keeps the group moving forward with his intelligence. Then when Ralph is trying to think of ideas on how to get rescued he states, “But Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains”(Golding 78). This shows how Ralph saw Piggy as the brain and the creator of certain things even though others didn’t listen to him because of his appearance. This is important because without the help of Piggy the fire would have never ever existed neither would they have been rescued. This is how Piggy's democratic values were shown because without him the group would have never progressed just like a country doesn’t move along without anyone using tactics to

Piggy has been shown as a weak individual since he suffers from many physical and medical issues, however could be displayed as the most rational

Piggy’s responsibility set him apart from the other boys, like Ralph. When Piggy cried out, “I don’t ask for my glasses back, not as a favour. I don’t ask you to be a sport, I’ll say, not because you’re strong, but because what’s right’s right” (190). For a moment, Piggy’s anger with unfairness and helplessness he felt took away from his logical reasoning but returned as soon as he was confronted by the savages. When Piggy asked, "Which is better- to be a pack of painted niggers like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?"(200) it demonstrated a change in Piggy's nature. Piggy learned to stand up for himself against Jack and the savages. He was able to think clearly and plan ahead of his encounter with the savage boys. The cruelty Jack showed towards him taught Piggy how much more pain there was in the

His nickname parallels the wild pigs that are hunted on the island, and it also represents his intelligence. Piggy portrays clear-sightedness and intelligence. He tries to keep peace and clings to civilization, and he is the smartest boy on the island even though he has no social skills. He does not like strenuous work so he refrains from physical work. His only contribution to survival on the island are his specs which become very important in lighting the signal and cooking fires.

Piggy’s glasses represented the theme “Loss of Identity” in the book. Piggy’s glasses defined who he was. It set him apart from all the other boys. Once Piggy’s glasses broke, he lost part of his identity. “Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy's head. Piggy's glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks. Piggy cried out in terror: "My specs!" . . . One sides broken” (54). A little later in the book, Jack and his group of hunters stole Piggy’s glasses. This symbolizes another piece of Piggy’s identity being lost. “From his left hand dangled Piggy's broken glasses” (131). After this happened, Ralph decided that he and the rest of the “sane” boys should march up to castle rock to get Piggy’s glasses back. This ended with Piggy dieing which symbolizes the complete loss of his identity. “High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever. . . The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red.” (141). I think that it is very sad for Piggy to lose his identity throughout the book because

Because he is physically different from the other boys on the island, he is looked at differently almost immediately after he started to make suggestions for how the island should have been run. His suggestions for what some of rules should be prior to the election of a leader prove that Piggy was ultimately and fundamentally good because he wanted what was best for the other boys.