Essay on The Character Piggy in Lord of the Flies

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.

The year is 1954; a year after the Cold war started William Golding published a novel called the Lord of the Flies to share his opinion regarding the current situation at hand. Lord of the Flies starts with a young group of British schoolboys crash landing on an uninhabited island with no adult supervision. As the story unfolds we see the boys lose their innocence and turn to a darker side of human nature that can only be expected from primitive beings, not high-class British boys. Golding figuratively used the boys to show the carnage that was taking place between the nations during the Cold War. He displayed various characters but the most valuable character in the novel was Piggy, a pudgy little British lad with thick spectacles. He was the most physically vulnerable of all the boys yet his intelligence was greater then the rest. Piggy symbolized rationality, hope, and science advancement on the island. The rest of the boys even though they had strong features eventually gave in to their inner lust and acted like primitive savages.

Boys are often cruel to each other, but in a joking manner. That is not the case for Piggy. He is the subject of relentless bullying on the island. Based on how the boys talk to him, act towards him, and how Piggy acts proves to readers that the boys are awful to him.

Lord Of The Flies Essay    The novel Lord of the Flies written by William Golding is an adventure of survival and a test of strength and maturity, where a group of boys become stranded on an island and are forced to protect themselves. An important character in the novel is Piggy, he is portrayed to be short, overweight and is recognized as the most physically vulnerable of all the boys. Three incidents that accurately reveal Piggy's true character in the novel include; when he is watching Ralph swim, when he comes up with the idea of the conch; and when Piggy is disrespected by the other boys.       

Piggy, from Lord of the Flies, displays a mature perspective in a childish, chaotic atmosphere. The author, William Golding, presents Piggy as a plump, spectacle-wearing schoolboy, diagnosed with asthma (7-9). The fragile appearance and lung disease of the stout student suggests his physical vulnerability. The young boy speaks childlike since he talks in sentence fragments; however, this still steadies the fat boy’s character because he constructs most of the boys’ helpful ideas (10-15). When so-called “Fatty” spots Ralph on the island, he frequently mentions his aunt due to the fact he lives with her (9-16).

Imagine being stuck on an island with unknown boys and being bullied. Also, being that one person who no one listens to. This was Piggy. In the Lord of the Flies, Golding represents this character as an outcast, logical, and as the person who reminds everyone to keep the civilization. These repetitions will lead to the conclusion to why the author’s purpose was for Piggy to be the adult voice of reason, and why this symbol represents that he is the adult like figure on the island.

First, in Lord Of The Flies, Golding uses the social relationships between each of the boys to tell us more about our own relationships. The first of these roles would be the one Piggy played. Throughout the novel Piggy dispenses intelligent ideas to the leader, Ralph, yet he was very rarely listened to. One example that appears on page 45, goes as follows,

Piggy throughout Lord Of The Flies by William Golding portrays loyalty, voice of reason and dependence. The fat kid is an perfect example of someone who gets excluded but has high intelligence and understanding of the whole picture. Piggy experiences loss of friendship and trust because of the way he looks, the boys treat him differently.

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

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

1. The animals who gather to hear Major’s speech each mirror a single human trait. What is revealed in Clover? Boxer? Benjamin?

A character in a novel can represent a larger idea in society. In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, each character is illustrated to represent a larger idea in society. Ralph represents democracy, Jack represents savagery, and Piggy represents a scientific approach.

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.

Having such a divers array of people living in such close proximity, and not being able to escape one another also influenced the attitudes, and actions of the boys. In normal circumstances, when two people don’t get along it is relatively easy to not be around them, and hang around with others in which your more compatible with. However due to the fact that they are on a rather small island, and that their society only consists of a few people, it is not so easy for rare intellectual to escape people with ideals opposite to their own. Therefore often suffers defeat. This is very true in the case of Piggy.