Piggy In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

882 Words4 Pages
Living in the island made rescue Ralph’s priority as a leader. However, the situation in which the rest of them were found was far from ideal. Ralph’s realization of what caused the recent loss of two lives and the general ruination of their little society overwhelmed any sentiment of finally being rescued. Piggy’s demise represented the collapse of what little was left of the boys’ decency. Reason, logic and “intelligence” (p.19) suffered at the height of the “tribe” (p.164)’s savagery. As those were things “traceable to Piggy” (p.19), his death symbolized the complete disintegration of these concepts in their little society. When “his head opened and stuff came out” (p.215), it can be taken as a metaphor of what was lost when Piggy fell.…show more content…
Instead of being appreciated for his contributions such as the fire and shelter, Piggy “was the center of social derision” (p.176) among the boys. Piggy’s “ludicrous body” (p.87), asthma, and “myopia” (p.201) only served to limit Piggy’s appeal to the boys. Although Ralph had gone a long way in terms of his treatment of Piggy, even he was not the most welcoming when he first met Piggy as no “proffer of acquaintance was not made” (p.03) because Piggy “was an irrelevance” (p.11). He thought Piggy “was a bore; his fat, his ass-mar and his matter-of-fact ideas were dull”…show more content…
Piggy depended on Ralph’s leadership and authority on account of him being an outsider in their circle. When Ralph wanted to quit being Chief, Piggy said “what ’ud happen to me?” (p.105). Jack even took notice when he told Ralph to “favor Piggy” (p.103) as he ‘always did’. On the other hand, Ralph acknowledged that Piggy “could think” (p.87), but was “no chief” (p.87). That was where he came in; Piggy had the ideas but Ralph had the authority to make it come to fruition. For example, Ralph was elected chief because he had the conch, but it was Piggy who suggested to use it to “have a meeting” (p.12) in the first
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