Lord of the Flies: Piggy Analysis
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Piggy Character Analysis
As an allegory, Lord of the Flies has characters that represent human traits. Therefore, these characters are not the typically developed characters of fiction books. The character of Piggy in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a perfect example of a person who may not be the best looking physically, but despite this, he has the right qualities of an excellent leader. Piggy represents the adult on the island; he represents the logical side of humans in the Lord of the Flies. Piggy is by far the smartest person of the group, as well as the most patient, and the most rationale.
Piggy’s intellect benefits the group only through Ralph; he acts as Ralph’s advisor. He cannot be the leader because he lacks leadership qualities and has no connection with the other boys. When Ralph brings up the issue of Simon’s death, Piggy tries to keep life scientific despite the incident, “searching for a formula” to explain the death. “Life … is scientific, (Ch.5, pg.76)” He asserts that the assault of Simon was justifiable because Ralph and he were on the outside of the circle of boys that beat Simon to death. Piggy displays his intelligence a variety of times throughout the novel, one of which is during the chaotic time when the boys have recently seen “the beast.” The boys believe that there is a “beast” stationed on top of the mountain, making it impossible for them to light the fire. All of the boys, aside from Piggy, give up and figure that they will never be rescued because they cannot light the fire. “We've got no fire. That thing sits up there-we'll have to stay here,” Ralph said, losing hope before he even took the time to try and solve the problem. It is only Piggy who remains focused and makes the suggestion of moving the fire by the campsite. “We got no fire on the mountain. But what's wrong with a fire down here? A fire could be built on them rocks. On the sand even. We'd make smoke just the same. (Ch.8, pg.129)” This shows that Piggy is...
As an allegory, Lord of the Flies has characters that represent human traits. Therefore, these characters are not the typically developed characters of fiction books. The character of Piggy in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a perfect example of a person who may not be the best looking physically, but despite this, he has the right qualities of an excellent leader. Piggy represents the adult on the island; he represents the logical side of humans in the Lord of the Flies. Piggy is by far the smartest person of the group, as well as the most patient, and the most rationale.
Piggy’s intellect benefits the group only through Ralph; he acts as Ralph’s advisor. He cannot be the leader because he lacks leadership qualities and has no connection with the other boys. When Ralph brings up the issue of Simon’s death, Piggy tries to keep life scientific despite the incident, “searching for a formula” to explain the death. “Life … is scientific, (Ch.5, pg.76)” He asserts that the assault of Simon was justifiable because Ralph and he were on the outside of the circle of boys that beat Simon to death. Piggy displays his intelligence a variety of times throughout the novel, one of which is during the chaotic time when the boys have recently seen “the beast.” The boys believe that there is a “beast” stationed on top of the mountain, making it impossible for them to light the fire. All of the boys, aside from Piggy, give up and figure that they will never be rescued because they cannot light the fire. “We've got no fire. That thing sits up there-we'll have to stay here,” Ralph said, losing hope before he even took the time to try and solve the problem. It is only Piggy who remains focused and makes the suggestion of moving the fire by the campsite. “We got no fire on the mountain. But what's wrong with a fire down here? A fire could be built on them rocks. On the sand even. We'd make smoke just the same. (Ch.8, pg.129)” This shows that Piggy is...