Overview of Topic
In the book "The Lord of The Flies", the character piggy is a prominent presence that helps make the book what it is. First and foremost Piggy represents the intellectual side of the book. Piggy lacks any physical power and strength yet he makes up for it with his intelligent and straightforward personality. At the beginning of the book, Piggy is a smaller chubby boy with glasses. He may be intelligent but one of Piggy's biggest problems is that he is insensitive and insecure about himself. Everyone knows that Piggy is smarter than the rest, yet most of the boys don't even give him credit for that, and that contributes to his insecurities. Piggy's role on the island is to be Ralph's adviser Ralph has average intelligent but when it comes to physical strength and leadership, Ralph takes over. So when these two characters are put together you have intellect and leadership. Throughout the story Piggy does various things to help them survive on the island. When they first arrive on the island Piggy is the one who finds the "conch". When he finds it, he realizes he can use it to call in all of the boys that were scattered around the island. The problem was that Piggy's asthma would not allow him to blow into the "conch". In that situation, Piggy turns to Ralph and teaches him how to blow into the "conch". This is a perfect example of Piggy and Ralph using their strong suites to help them survive. Throughout the book after they use the "conch" to hold their first meeting, Piggy decides that the "conch" will be the new symbol of order and civilization. As the book progresses and things within the island don't go as planned, Piggy tries to use his intellect to bring peace among the boys. Piggy's main goal is to create civilized living for all the boys, but because of his lack of leadership qualities he has to use Ralph to convey his thoughts and opinions. Piggy uses a great deal of energy trying to explain himself through holding meeting and talking with the "conch". When this doesn't work, Piggy has to use Ralph to speak his mind to the other boys and that is why Ralph is so vital to him. By the end of the book Ralph gets fed up with the lack of respect that he gets from the rest of the boys, especially from Jack and his clan. Piggy starts to come out of his shell in small ways but really is never able to gain any respect from most of the boys. Ultimately, Piggy ends up dying by getting hit buy a rock. Also when this happens the "conch" breaks into bits and pieces. Up to Piggy's last moments he was still trying to figure out ways to form civilization and order on the island and that shows how important it is to Piggy. Overall Piggy was one of the steadiest characters in the book. He remained the shy yet intellectual Piggy thought the book and even though he worked for it, he was never well respected. Even though Piggy lacked leadership, he was able to use his intellect to help the other boys to survive on the island.
Quotations
"I expect we'll want to know all their names, " said the fat boy, " and make a list. We ought to have a meeting." (Golding, 11) This is when Piggy and Ralph just meet together and are discussing what to do. This shows how Piggy recognizes everyone as an actual person instead of just a kid. learning everyone's names, he is able to allow everyone to connect in a better way. This shows the kindness and consideration of others. He is at a higher moral development than most of the others on the island.
"my aunties wouldn't let me blow on account of my asthma. He said you blew from down here. Piggy laid a hand on his jutting abdomen." You tray Ralph. You'll call the others." (Golding , 16) This quote is when they find the conch shell. Piggy knows how to use it, but physically can't. This shows how Piggy is intelligent, but is physically weak. He represents the innovator/ intellect of the society, but he doesn't have the physical strength like Ralph does to perform the necessarily tasks to help the group out.
Piggy saw the smile and misinterpreted it as friendliness. There had grown up tacitly among the bigun the opinion that Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, his ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labor. Now finding that something he had said made Ralph smile , he rejoiced and pressed his advantage." (Golding, 65) This is when Piggy is picking things on the shore and suggests to make a Sundial to keep track of time. This shows how Piggy and Ralph have gotten a closer relationship toward one another. Also, it shows that Piggy is being more confident in order to present new ideas toward other people even though no one does not like him much except Ralph. It also shows curiosity side of Piggy as he is searching for things to make stuff into. He has a very creative mind to try and benefit the group.
"The booing rose and died again as Piggy lifted the white, magic shell..." Which is better- to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill." (Golding, 180) This is when Ralph is trying to get Piggy's glasses back and then he start to fight with Jack. Piggy then step's in and tries to convinces Jack's group to stop what they're doing. This does not work as Piggy dies shortly. This quote shows Piggy has developed to able to be willing to stand up for what he believes. Because I surely believe that his aunt wouldn't have let him do the action of trying to convince crazy killing children to calm down. This shows how he has gained more confidence and get rid of his insecurity due to the people around him yelling at him. Also, this shows how Piggy has gotten closer with Ralph due to the fact that he tried to stand up for him and eventually ended up dying because of this.
"Once more that evening Ralph had to adjust his values. Piggy could think. He could go step by step inside that fat head of his, only Piggy was no chief. But Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains. Ralph was a specialist in thought now, and could recognize thought in another." (Golding, 78)
This is when Ralph calls a meeting after feasting on the pig Jack caught. Ralph was angry at not keeping the fire ablaze while they went to go hunt. This resulted in a missed opportunity to get rescued. This quote is describing Piggy and what kind of person he is halfway through the book. Ralph is seeing that Piggy is very smart, except he isn't the leader. This shows how Piggy is intelligently superior but he couldn't lead people due to his physical appearance even though he is a very smart person that could get the kids out of trouble.
"my aunties wouldn't let me blow on account of my asthma. He said you blew from down here. Piggy laid a hand on his jutting abdomen." You tray Ralph. You'll call the others." (Golding , 16) This quote is when they find the conch shell. Piggy knows how to use it, but physically can't. This shows how Piggy is intelligent, but is physically weak. He represents the innovator/ intellect of the society, but he doesn't have the physical strength like Ralph does to perform the necessarily tasks to help the group out.
Piggy saw the smile and misinterpreted it as friendliness. There had grown up tacitly among the bigun the opinion that Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, his ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labor. Now finding that something he had said made Ralph smile , he rejoiced and pressed his advantage." (Golding, 65) This is when Piggy is picking things on the shore and suggests to make a Sundial to keep track of time. This shows how Piggy and Ralph have gotten a closer relationship toward one another. Also, it shows that Piggy is being more confident in order to present new ideas toward other people even though no one does not like him much except Ralph. It also shows curiosity side of Piggy as he is searching for things to make stuff into. He has a very creative mind to try and benefit the group.
"The booing rose and died again as Piggy lifted the white, magic shell..." Which is better- to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill." (Golding, 180) This is when Ralph is trying to get Piggy's glasses back and then he start to fight with Jack. Piggy then step's in and tries to convinces Jack's group to stop what they're doing. This does not work as Piggy dies shortly. This quote shows Piggy has developed to able to be willing to stand up for what he believes. Because I surely believe that his aunt wouldn't have let him do the action of trying to convince crazy killing children to calm down. This shows how he has gained more confidence and get rid of his insecurity due to the people around him yelling at him. Also, this shows how Piggy has gotten closer with Ralph due to the fact that he tried to stand up for him and eventually ended up dying because of this.
"Once more that evening Ralph had to adjust his values. Piggy could think. He could go step by step inside that fat head of his, only Piggy was no chief. But Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains. Ralph was a specialist in thought now, and could recognize thought in another." (Golding, 78)
This is when Ralph calls a meeting after feasting on the pig Jack caught. Ralph was angry at not keeping the fire ablaze while they went to go hunt. This resulted in a missed opportunity to get rescued. This quote is describing Piggy and what kind of person he is halfway through the book. Ralph is seeing that Piggy is very smart, except he isn't the leader. This shows how Piggy is intelligently superior but he couldn't lead people due to his physical appearance even though he is a very smart person that could get the kids out of trouble.
Concluding Statements
After reading The Lord of The Flies and Analyzing the development of Piggy, we have concluded that Piggy is a very important character to the story. Even though he may be lacking the physical tone in order to properly survive on the island, he still has superior intelligence over everyone else. This makes him a very key player as he tries to innovate and create new things like the sundial in order to make the island a better place. Plus, his glasses were the entire reason why the kids could start a fire which eventually led them to be rescued. So in a sense, Piggy saved Ralph's life, and saved Jack and his group of followers into becoming power hungry beasts for the rest of their lives until they all died. This has led to the conclusion that even though piggy was fat and mostly a wimp, he still contributed to the novel significantly as his actions from the conch shell to his glasses directly affected the lives of everyone on the island whether for the better or the worse.
Discussion Questions
1. How can the power of intellect make up for lack of physical power?
2. What specific roles did Piggy serve throughout the book? How would the book have been different without him?
3. How can good intentions cause you to become oblivious to the outcome?
4. How does social status within a group of people affect authority?
5. What was the problem with Piggy's reliance on the "Conch" and social conventions to bring order within their civilization?
6. How does Piggy's hunger for a civilized society stand in the way of Jack and his tribe?
7. In what ways could piggy have reformed their methods of communication to sustain order? Give examples.
2. What specific roles did Piggy serve throughout the book? How would the book have been different without him?
3. How can good intentions cause you to become oblivious to the outcome?
4. How does social status within a group of people affect authority?
5. What was the problem with Piggy's reliance on the "Conch" and social conventions to bring order within their civilization?
6. How does Piggy's hunger for a civilized society stand in the way of Jack and his tribe?
7. In what ways could piggy have reformed their methods of communication to sustain order? Give examples.