Piggy As An Outsider

Piggy, though not the most memorable in The Lord of the Flies, resonated the most whilst reading this book. Piggy is the stereotypical nerdy kid who seems to be perpetually bullied, even when he is on a deserted island. He has pinkish skin with glasses and asthma with a belly that ate perhaps too much candy from his aunt’s candy shop. While Piggy is almost useless physically, he is very strong mentally, and proves this when he formulates the idea of the conch, but is too weak to blow into it and call everyone. Piggy seems socially awkward, as if he hasn’t spent much times with his fellow peers and rather passed the time with the adults in this life. We see this when Piggy frequently parrots his aunt’s advice such as “My auntie told me not to run… on account of my

This also demonstrates his intelligence as he is familiarizing the idea of the conch with the boys by using it in replacement of a school bell. Golding reveals more about Piggy's true character when displaying his intelligence. The reader grasps his level of maturity in comparisons to the other boys as the level of thinking behind his ideas are one of which would be recognized from a mature and sensible adult. Golding illustrates to the reader the effect Piggy's intelligence has, this becomes clear as he plays a huge part in emphasizing their safety due to his practical thinking. This is seen predominately when he communicates his ideas to Ralph.

Out of the 4 main characters, Piggy is the only one who gets treated so badly. Golding did this in order to relate to our lives today. Many people get bullied everyday all around the world, but it's uncommon for two friends to get bullied. Piggy is like a outcast and the rest aren't his friends so that's why they treat him that way. They make fun of his weight which happens today too. In some cases there are other people who see bullying occurring and try to stand up for that person, like the way piggy stood up for the little boy.

In fact, Golding uses Piggy’s specs to symbolize intelligence , and when the specs were gone, the intelligence left and along came the terrors. He even states, “Viciously, with full intention, he hurled his spear at Ralph. The point tore the skin and flesh over Ralph’s ribs, then sheared off and fell into the water(181),” to show how the savageness and stupidity came after the loss of the glasses. This is actually much like his use of the entire island being a symbol itself. Representing the real world during a time of stupidity known as WW2. To show it, he writes things like, “...great shuddering spasms of grief that seemed to wrench his whole body(202).” This kind of writing symbolizes the terrors from the real world to the

They also view Piggy as weak because of his glasses. His glasses are a sign of weakness because without them Piggy cannot see. Later in the story when Jack breaks one of Piggy’s lenses and then later steals the glasses, Piggy has a hard time seeing, making his glasses a weakness. Golding uses Piggy to advance the theme that humans are naturally evil. Piggy advances this theme by demonstrating

The first instance where Piggy is shown to be different than the other boys is in his looks.. Piggy states in the first chapter, “I was the only boy in our school what had asthma. And I’ve been wearing specs since I was three”. (9) This shows that from the start Piggy stood out for he had the distinct characteristics of wearing and needing glasses. Piggy is also a chubbier kid than the rest of the boys which causes the boys to act differently around him

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of British boys suddenly become stranded on an island, all alone, forced to form their own social system. Throughout the novel, William Golding reveals his main character 's strengths and weaknesses in their attempts to lead. The character Piggy demonstrates the benefits and limits of intelligence in maintaining civil order.

Piggy is clearly a clever boy, but he is a victim too. How does the writer use him in the novel?

Piggy symbolizes wisdom, common sense, and intelligence. Piggy is an outcast because he is fat, has asthma, wears glasses, and lacks social skills. He also has bad grammar and seems to come from a lower-class family

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

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 a deep, pink V on the bridge.” (William Golding, pg58). Not only Piggy he very smart consequently Ralph is the only person who is compromised by his responsibleness. "I don't care what they call me," he said confidentially, "so long as they don't call me what they used to call me in school" (William Golding pg, 65.) The boys are first identified as their appearance and Piggy tries to convince them not to be called by Piggy because it resembles himself being overweight.

"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)

Even thought Piggy is physically blind without his glasses he has insight as to his surroundings. Jack shows dislike towards Piggy by ridiculing his physique by saying , “Better Piggy the Fatty”. (40) His intelligence is undermined by the fact that Jack makes fun of him.

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.

Piggy is seen as the intellectual outcast because he wears glasses and is overweight. The leader and hero is Ralph due to his attractive looks and personality as well as his size. Because the media in the world has planted these ideas in the minds of society, these stereotypes exist. William Golding shows how media in society causes people to believe in stereotypes, especially based on appearance, and uses this novel to show how easily society labels people based off of their