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Lord of The Flies: Analysis of Piggy

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Lord of The Flies: Analysis of Piggy
LOTF: Analysis of Piggy
In William Golding’s novel, “Lord of the Flies” a group of English schoolboys become stranded on an island after a fatal plane crash. Immediately two boys, Ralph and Piggy, befriend each other and call the other boys to have an assembly and to pick a leader. Ralph emerges as the leader of the civilization and Piggy acts as his advisor to him. Piggy persuades Ralph to do certain things. Piggy’s appearance makes him someone that the boys find easy to pick on and make fun of, even though he is the smartest boy out of all of the boys. He even as a disease called asthma that holds him back from a lot of activities. The way that Piggy contributed to the society was through his brains, his intellectual side of things. He also acted as the adult with no authority. “Piggy wore the remainders of a pair of shorts, his fat body was golden brown, and the glasses still flashed when he looked at anything. He was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow. The rest were shock-headed, but Piggy’s hair still lay in wisps over his head as though baldness was his natural state and this imperfect covering would soon god, like velvet on a young stag’s antlers.” (Golding 64). Piggy is, “shorter than the fair boy and very fat.” (Golding 7). Piggy’s asthma held him back from many activities. “My auntie told me not to run, on account to my asthma. That’s right. Can’t catch my breath.” (Golding 9). “I can’t swim. I wasn’t allowed. My asthma—” (Golding 13) Piggy has been, “wearing his specs since he was three.” (Golding 9). Because of Piggy’s physical appearance, the boys pick on him a lot, especially Jack. Even though Piggy wasn’t the best looking boy, or the most popular, he was the smartest. Piggy is seen as the adult figure in the novel, but an adult with no authority, and that’s where Ralph comes in. Piggy used Ralph like a pawn to get his ideas across through to the boys and that’s what had the civilization running for as long as it did.

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