Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding. The novel is about a group of boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and must learn to survive. Piggy is one of the main characters in the novel. He is a fat, asthmatic boy who wears glasses. Piggy is not very strong or athletic, but he is intelligent and has common sense.
Piggy’s character development is interesting because he starts out as an outsider and becomes more accepted by the other boys as the novel progresses. When the boys first meet Piggy, they make fun of him and call him names. However, Piggy proves to be useful to the group. He helps to start fires and to find food.
In every work of fiction, there is at least one character who sticks out to me. Ironically, the characters I tend to choose to appreciate are the weak, unappreciated, and failures. In William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies,” Piggy was the standout personality for me. He was a boy whose true name was never mentioned; however, his actual name would not be as significant as his nickname throughout the novel.
Lord of the Flies is a story about a group of boys that crash land on an uninhabited island. They are forced to survive with no adult supervision. The novel focuses on the struggle between two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one’s immediate desires, act violently to obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one’s will (island). From the very beginning of the book you can tell Piggy is different from all the other boys. He is overweight, has asthma, wears glasses and isn’t as physically fit as everyone else.
Piggy is very wise. He is the one that comes up with the idea of using the conch to call all the boys to a meeting. He is also the one that suggests that they should have a leader and that they should use the votes to elect that leader. Piggy doesn’t want to be the leader because he knows he isn’t physically able to do everything that would be required, but he does want to help in any way possible.
Throughout the book you see Piggy trying to get the other boys to see things his way, but they never seem to listen. They make fun of him and exclude him from their activities. Ralph, who is elected leader, is the only one that seems to value Piggy’s opinion.
Piggy is constantly trying to get the boys to see reason, but they never listen. He begs them not to light the fire that eventually burns down the whole island, but they do it anyway. He tries to get them to use the conch when they are having their meetings, but they ignore him. He tells them over and over again that they need rules in order to survive, but they don’t want to listen.
In the end, Piggy is killed by one of the boys that he has been trying to help. His death symbolizes the death of reason and common sense on the island. Without Piggy, there is no one left to try and keep the boys from descending into savagery.
I admire Piggy because he is a pure example of good. He is always trying to do what is best for the group, even when the group doesn’t want to listen to him. He is selfless and always puts others before himself. He is a true leader, even though he is never given the chance to lead. Piggy is the type of person that I strive to be like.
Throughout the preceding sections, I perceived Piggy as a common loner who was unable to share snacks with his classmates even if he had the most delectable ones. Piggy is an extremely obedient youngster who willingly followed his aunt’s instructions. On the outside, he appeared different and appreciated it, but on the inside, he was envious of Ralph’s talents for doing things that he couldn’t.
Piggy’s character develops significantly in Lord of the Flies. When we are first introduced to Piggy, he is an outsider who is not accepted by the other boys. He is bullied and made fun of because of his physical appearance and his asthma. Piggy is also very overweight, which makes him an easy target for the other boys.
However, Piggy is one of the most intelligent boys on the island. He is the only one who can read and write, and he is also the only one who knows how to use the conch shell to call meetings. Piggy is also very level-headed and always thinks things through before acting.
Despite all of his flaws, Piggy is a good person. He is always looking out for the other boys and trying to help them. For example, Piggy is the one who suggests that they build shelters so that they can stay dry during the rainstorms.
Piggy’s character development is important because it shows that intelligence and kindness are more important than physical appearance. Piggy is not popular or cool, but he is the smartest and most helpful boy on the island.
“The fat boy stood by him, panting hard” [Golding 9] This passage indicates that Piggy was near Ralph attempting to catch his breath because of his “ass-mar,” and definitely because his physical condition was not as good as others. He begins to tell Ralph about asthma, “that’s correct. I can’t breathe. I was the only kid in my class who had asthma, and I’ve worn glasses since I was three years old.”
He then rips his glasses off of his face to show Ralph that he is nearsighted. This physical description proves that Piggy is an outcast, which puts him at a disadvantage from the beginning of the novel.
Piggy continues to be an outcast throughout the novel because of his appearance and health. The other boys make fun of him and do not take him seriously. However, Piggy is one of the smartest boys on the island and has many good ideas. He is also very loyal to Ralph and stands up for him when necessary.
Near the end of the novel, Piggy becomes fed up with being treated like an outcast. He yells at the other boys, “You’re all like animals, you are! You’re no better than beasts in a forest! Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves? Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves?”
Piggy dies in the end, which is a turning point in the novel. His death represents the loss of innocence and hope for the boys on the island. Piggy was always looking towards the future and hoping that they would be rescued.
Golding uses Piggy to symbolize intelligence and reason. Piggy is always trying to think things through and come up with logical solutions. He is also very level-headed, even when other boys are panicking. Piggy represents the civilized side of human nature, while the other boys represent the savage side.
Golding uses Piggy’s character development to show how the boys on the island are slowly losing their innocence and turning into savages. Piggy is one of the first to die, which represents the loss of innocence. The other boys soon follow suit and begin killing each other. In the end, there is only one boy left who has not killed anyone. Lord of the Flies is a novel about human nature and how even the most civilized people can turn into savages given the right (or wrong) circumstances.
