Preview

Piggy Lord Of The Flies Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
796 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Piggy Lord Of The Flies Essay
Lord of the Flies
Did you know Lord of the Flies has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide? In which spreading different styles of leadership to any who read it? A prominent, but overlooked leader in Lord of the Flies, is a twelve-year-old boy named Piggy. Piggy displays virtues such as a tendency for peaceful solutions to violent situations throughout the novel. He also brings a wise and civilized voice to the group. Another exceptional virtue Piggy displays is his loyalty, not only to Ralph but to his own morals. Piggy shows that leadership is not an excuse to establish power, or use it as an excuse for violence, but an opportunity to distribute the power among others.
Uniquely, Piggy's tendency to propose nonviolent solutions to problems made him an adviser for Ralph. Throughout the book, Piggy shows that violence is to be avoided at all costs. Piggy and Ralph were close throughout
…show more content…
In Lord of the Flies the conch symbolizes the laws of society, and Piggy is the most closely related to the conch. Additionally, Piggy was killed at the same time the conch is shattered, thus ending the two mains ties to society. The conch was in Piggy’s constant protection, such as when Jack was attacking Ralph's remaining members. “Piggy's corner was full of shouting and loud crashes” (Golding 167) Additionally, when Piggy is killed the conch is shattered at the same time, thus ending the two main ties to society. Piggy was the voice of reason and civility, while the conch was the symbol and physical version of civilization. In turn, when put together they represent the main aspects of modern society. Piggy was also an extremely wise for a boy, who was only twelve. As it is states at the end of the book, “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” (Golding

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The next morning, the boys gather on the beach to discuss what the hunters saw. Ralph tells Piggy about the creature on the mountain, which he describes as a beast with teeth and big black eyes. Piggy does not believe him. Jack tells the group that his hunters can defeat the beast, but Ralph intercut to say Jack's group has nothing but sticks as weapons. Jack tells the other boys that the beast is a hunter, also telling them that Ralph thinks that the boys are weak. He continues his rant, claiming that Ralph is not a good leader. Jack asks the boys if they want a new leader. When nobody agrees with him, Jack runs off in tears. He says he does not want to be in the group anymore. After Jack runs off, Piggy tells the group they can do without…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.”…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He jumped in. “Piggy! Piggy!” ( Golding 11. ) Piggy and Simon from the book Lord of the Flies are both unique characters and easy to compare each other. Some of the main points that will be compared are Smart, Sensitive, and Outcasts. On the contrary some of the main points that will be contrasted between the characters are helpful against keeps to self, ways of death, and asthma and seizures.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Piggy lord of the flies

    • 576 Words
    • 2 Pages

    At this point in the novel, the group of boys has lived on the island for some time, and their society increasingly resembles a political state. Although the issue of power and control is central to the boys’ lives from the moment they elect a leader in the first chapter, the dynamics of the society they form take time to develop. By this chapter, the boys’ community mirrors a political society, with the faceless and frightened littluns resembling the masses of common people and the various older boys filling positions of power and importance with regard to these underlings. Some of the older boys, including Ralph and especially Simon, are kind to the littluns; others, including Roger and Jack, are cruel to them. In short, two conceptions of power emerge on the island, corresponding to the novel’s philosophical poles—civilization and savagery. Simon, Ralph, and Piggy represent the idea that power should be used for the good of the group and the protection of the littluns—a stance representing the instinct toward civilization, order, and morality. Roger and Jack represent the idea that power should enable those who hold it to gratify their own desires and act on their impulses, treating the littluns as servants or objects for their own amusement—a stance representing the instinct toward savagery.…

    • 576 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Piggy is a corpulent boy with glasses and gets picked on by the other boys on the island and is ignored. Piggy always getting picked on and getting his glasses ripped off his face causes him to think as an individual. Piggy is a wise boy and wants his voice to be heard by the other boys on the island so he uses the conch throughout the book so they would listen to him no matter what. “I got the conch, I got the conch,…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the book Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, originally written as a bedtime story for William’s kids to replace another book, Coral Island: because he finds it bogus. After William returned from “D-Day” (World War Two event) he had a totally new look on the world and the human heartedness, believing humans were cynical and not goodwilled. The book begins with plane full of young boys, ages from around seven to thirteen, that crashes on an island secluded from society. The boys decide to elect a leader, so they elect a boy named Ralph; and later on Ralph would lose power and there would be another that leads; Jack. However there is another older boy that possesses numerous leadership skills; named Piggy. Piggy is the best…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the beginning of the novel, Lord of the Flies, Piggy is timid. Piggy changes from being timid to being confident to feeling free. Here are some examples of Piggy changing. In chapter one, Piggy felt embarrassed when Ralph told the boys his name. The boys laughed then “for the moment the boys were a closed circuit of sympathy with Piggy outside: he went very pink, bowed his head and cleaned his glasses again” (Goldberg 14). In chapter two, Piggy got enraged because of Jack, Ralph, and the other boys. Piggy said, “Like kids!” he said scornfully. “Acting like a crowd of kids!”(Goldberg 30). In chapter five, Piggy became more confident when he was around Jack by calling him out on something he did not completely agree with. Piggy had said, “I…

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He comes up with countless ideas as to how to improve life on the island and the way to go about doing that. After the fire started by the hunters consumes most of the jungle, Piggy emphasizes that “The first thing we ought to have made was shelters down there by the beach” (45). In the beginning of the book, as Ralph finds the conch, it is Piggy that instructs Ralph in how to blow on the conch and make the sound that makes Ralph the “man with the megaphone” (7). More importantly is the role that Piggy plays as an adult voice on the island, a voice that the boys grow to resent. “‘Grownups know things,’ said Piggy. ‘They ain’t afraid of the dark. They’d meet and have tea and discuss. Then things ‘ud be all right” (94). It is this adult view of life and how he asserts his opinion that shapes the way Ralph ultimately begins to think and govern, and in a certain light, why he fails. Piggy believes that rules should be strictly followed, and this totalitarian view is shown when he tries to stress the power of the conch when speaking before Jack on Castle Rock. It is this effort to remain true to the ideals that the island was founded on, his ideals that were formed from intelligence and reason, that get him…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    in the book lord of the flies, Piggy is treated like an outsider by all t the other boys on the island, mainly Jack. I personally think that the boys are treating Piggy that way because him and might be intimidated, Piggy is obviously very intelligent and i think all the boys had an idea of it when the were together for the first time and that's probably the main reason of the teasing because they know he's superior. In our society today so many people are treated like Piggy on a daily bases such as new kids at a new school, disabled people and people in different class systems. These people get hurt everyday because no one is there to help them, if this world is evolving and changing why is people hurting other people physically, mentally and emotionally still such a big issue ?…

    • 650 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Piggy's Leadership

    • 1665 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In one situation, Ralph even laughs at this bullying. A competent leader would be mature and try to cease any conflicts between the boys, but Ralph does not do this, demonstrating that he's not very mature. The conflict between Jack and Piggy is shown when the book says, “‘I got the conch’ Jack turned fiercely. ‘You shut up.’...Ralph took the conch from him…” (Golding 42) Piggy had the “conch” which meant he could talk, but Jack tells Piggy to “shut up.” These two words are emphasising his verbal abuse towards Piggy, and since Jack says them “fiercely,” or with a harsh tone, he is bullying Piggy. Instead of being a good leader, and trying to work things out between the boys, Ralph takes “the conch from him,” which is also taking away his right to speak. Ralph has favorites and doesn't value the others opinions, just like a small immature child, which is demonstrating that he is not an effective leader. Not only does Ralph do this, he also finds the bullying humorous, as he laughs at it.This is shown through the quote, “ Piggy and the parody were so funny… Ralph felt his lips twitch.” (Golding 72) When Ralph's “lips twitched,” he was about to laugh because he found the whole ordeal “funny” or entertaining. Since Ralph finds bullying entertaining, he’s not very mature. He is a leader and should set an example for the rest of the boys. By laughing at this, Ralph is being a bad role model and an unadequate leader by not being mature enough to stop this…

    • 1665 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Role of Symbolism in Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies is a classic novel written by William Golding in 1954. It is a story of a group of boys whose plane crashes on an island. Three of the boys, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack, are separated from the pack as the true leaders. It started off civilized and orderly, but slowly spiraled into chaos. Piggy and Ralph worked together and cooperated to try to get rescued along with some other boys, yet Jack decided to turn against them and lead his own pack of savages.…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the main characters in Lord of the Flies, Piggy, acts as Ralph’s advisor and is usually the first in command over the littluns. Piggy is important because as Ralph and Jack mess around some of the time, Piggy always stays on track and focuses on what is important, which is getting off the island, and maintaining order. One of the main reasons the other boys make fun of and don't listen to him is because they see living on an island without parents as a chance of freedom, so they would rather not have him hold them back with all their responsibilities.…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He remains in solidarity, rarely speaking and gaining trust of both Jack and Ralph, who fight for the position of a leader. Simon is never aroused into violence, and manages to remain the only boy who is truly, consistently good, partly because of his nature. He remains good because his human nature is not provoked into savagery; he is simply above all the others. As for Piggy, his intellect arouses in him, a want to be heard; to spread his new and innovative ideas, instead of concealing them like Simon. Piggy represents the rational side of society, which at times makes him cold and careless of everything, except for gaining acceptance. The two represent separate parts of the deteriorating morality amongst the other boys, Piggy and Simon possess the qualities that are disregarded in the tumult of survival; Piggy is rational and intellectual, while Simon is the purity and goodness in people.…

    • 634 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The knowledge gained from experiences becomes a guide line for the upcoming age. This self knowledge gained by Ralph and piggy in a deserted island of Lord of the Flies can be compared to the knowledge gained by Marlow in Congo. Ralph and Piggy gained self knowledge and prevent the darkness to overcome them. They both represent order, law, civility and goodness. Ralph was fair hair, good looking and civilized boy. At the beginning he discovered Conch which summoned all the boys at the island. Ralph was elected as chief because he was deeply concerned about the welfare of all the boys and he was democratic in his outlook and thirdly he had collected all the boys by blowing the conch. After that he called several meetings for to choose certain rules while living in an uninhabited island. He said that anyone who wish to suggest something in meeting, he will raise his hand and I will hand over the conch to him. Nobody is allowed to speak if he has not the conch in his hand. After that he suggested to burn a fire, for the purpose to catch the attention of the sailors. Ralph then suggested building huts for the purpose of safety. His tendencies were totally towards the help of mankind. He represents the principle of good as against the principle of evil. He stands for the values of civilization as against the way of savagery. He stands for progress and advancement as against the…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I am stranded on a desert island with a group of rude and immature boys, and no responsible human being knows I am here. The atmosphere of the island is not very good for my asthma. It is hot and humid, so it's hard to breathe, and I can't even go swimming to cool off, because my Auntie says I can't on account of my asthma. The first boy I met on this island was Ralph, who seems completely disinterested in everything I say. The only thing that caught his interest was when I told him of my loathed nickname, "Piggy." After I warned him that I didn't want people to call me that, he went and blurted it out to the other boys, and since then I have been mocked and tormented to no end. Ralph used the conch that I found to gather all the boys together, and he was appointed leader. Whoever wants to speak has to hold the conch, but whenever I am holding the conch, Jack interrupts me and sometimes he even makes fun of me. If Auntie was here, none of this would be happening; she would take care of me and give me all the sweets I desire. For now, Journal, you are my only friend; the only thing in which I can confide. I am going to go find something to eat now.…

    • 656 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays