They are not wearing masks of paint, but are regardless wearing masks that cloud their sense of reason and identity. Ralph’s mask is his growing hair, which he constantly pushes back throughout the novel. His hair signifies the change of his character throughout his time on the island, his rationality slowly crumbling. Ralph succumbs to his mask when he participates in the hunt and in the murder of Simon. Piggy, who is described to have little hair that doesn’t grow, has a unique mask from the rest of the boys. It is his broken pair of specs. Initially used to aid his vision, Piggy’s mask is the reverse of the boys’ masks. The lack of his mask is what causes his moral demise. Piggy is blind in one eye after the lens breaks on one side, which can be perceived as a partial loss of reason. After his glasses are broken, Piggy has moments in which he loses his cool: “Ralph, they out to shut up, oughtn’t they? You shut up, you littluns” (Golding 83)! He also participates in the feast and the brutal
They are not wearing masks of paint, but are regardless wearing masks that cloud their sense of reason and identity. Ralph’s mask is his growing hair, which he constantly pushes back throughout the novel. His hair signifies the change of his character throughout his time on the island, his rationality slowly crumbling. Ralph succumbs to his mask when he participates in the hunt and in the murder of Simon. Piggy, who is described to have little hair that doesn’t grow, has a unique mask from the rest of the boys. It is his broken pair of specs. Initially used to aid his vision, Piggy’s mask is the reverse of the boys’ masks. The lack of his mask is what causes his moral demise. Piggy is blind in one eye after the lens breaks on one side, which can be perceived as a partial loss of reason. After his glasses are broken, Piggy has moments in which he loses his cool: “Ralph, they out to shut up, oughtn’t they? You shut up, you littluns” (Golding 83)! He also participates in the feast and the brutal