Lord of the Flies, Piggy

A detailed Summary of Lord of the Flies, Piggy

Throughout the novel Piggy's character is used to represent the intellectual side of man and act almost like an adult figure to the boys. There are many things that he does and that Golding says to support this. Three things come to mind that represent his place in the novel; he is a clear thinker, his appearance, and his symbolic losses throughout the book.

Right off the beginning we see evidence of Piggy's thinking ability. He realizes the boys' situation and is thinking about how they are going to survive. He says "We got to find the others, we got to do something." We then see indication of his intelligence, he says, "A conch...he used to blow it... he kind of spat... you blew from down here." Only a bright person would know the name of a rare shell and how to blow it to make a noise. Further on at the end of chapter two Piggy compares the fire on the mountain to the fires of hell. It almost like he can "see" what is going to happen to the kids. Also he says "acting like a crowd of kids" as if was the adult on the island trying to help the "kids". More proof of his clear thinking is the fact that Ralph relies on Piggy's good advice to succeed. Without Piggy, Ralph would be los

t. As the story progresses we see the boys drift apart however we see Piggy try to retain order as an adult might. When there is going to be a fight he says, "Come away. There's going to be trouble. And we've had our meat." He realizes the intensity of the situation and tries to stop any altercation. The boys continue to drift apart but Ralph and Piggy continue to be friends. In particularly, after the killing of Simon, Piggy tries as best as he can to support Ralph although he realizes they were a party to the violent death. He says, "You stop it. What good are you doing talking like that." Although his is wise no one seems to listen to him except for Ralph, those who didn't respect him may wish they had.

As the novel progresses Piggy and his role are slowly filtered out. Even at the beginning he is laughed at although his suggestions are logical. Then his glasses, which represent intellect and reason, are taken from him without permission. "Piggy was surrounded before he could back away. His voice rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched the glasses off his face." This is the first in a series of events which shows the gradual deprivation of reason. As Jack continues to be meaner and meaner to Piggy his power through Ralph is diminishing. The next step of the elimination is when one of the lenses in Piggy's glasses is broken during an argument about letting the

Some common words found in the essay are:
Simon Piggy, Piggy Throughout, Chief Piggy's, Piggy Ralph, Ralph Piggy, drift apart, piggy's role, piggy's glasses, role novel, ralph realizes, throughout novel, appearance symbolic,

Approximate Word count = 939
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English