lotf piggy

• Introduced as 'the fat boy'


  Contrasts with how Ralph is introduced

  Plays on the reader's prejudices
• We are never told his real name, as no one asks him.


  Shows how the other boys dehumanise him. This is actually similar to how the Nazis dehumanised the Jews (by taking away their names). It's a lot easier to be cruel to someone if you think of them as sub-human.

  Piggy is separated from Ralph and the other boys right from the start.

  It challenges the reader, because as we don't know his name we have no choice but to refer to him as 'Piggy'. This makes the reader almost complicit in his dehumanisation.
• Piggy is a cockney, in contrast to the other boys, who mostly seem to be from wealthier backgrounds.

  Symbolises how the lower classes weren't listened to.

  CONTEXT: Golding taught in a private school, where he probably had experience with unpleasant wealthy people.
• "...ever so expensive. I bet if you wanted to buy one you'd have to pay pounds and pounds and pounds."'


  P always talks about things in terms of monetary value.

  Emphasises that he comes from a different background to the others, where money is something you have to think about.
• Piggy's diarrhoea:

  '"Them fruit."'

  'the fat boy's grunts.'


  Yet another way that P is physically inferior to the other boys.

  His diarrhoea aligns him with the littluns. Both him and the littluns are 'useless', particularly in Jack's eyes.
• Piggy asked no names. He was intimidated by this uniformed superiority.'

  Organisations of war (Jack) defeat reason/intellect (Piggy).
• A closed circuit of sympathy with Piggy outside.'

  Technological metaphor contrasts with the island setting, emphasises the boys' cold, unfeeling attitude.

  This is the first time P is physically ostracised from the group. Perhaps meant as foreshadowing?

  The other boys bond through their exclusion of Piggy.
• Piggy's glasses as a symbol

  Represent foresight and intelligence.

  The glasses' destruction mirrors the breakdown of the group, suggesting that loss of foresight (and not listening to those that show it, e.g Piggy and Simon) is what leads to the boys' downfall.
• the martyred expression of a parent'

  '"My! You've made a big heap, haven't you?"'

  'bitter realism'


  Piggy often tries to do model his behaviour on what he thinks an adult would do.

  Is it always good to copy what an adult would do, though? Especially considering that the books is set during a war caused by adults...

  This is one way that his intelligence is different to Simon's, as Simon recognises that adults don't always do the right thing ('dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life.').
• Connection and alignment with pigs:

  Name, obviously.

  'Piggy was surrounded' 'shriek of terror'

  'The pigs lay, bloated bags of fat'- very similar to how P is described before his death- 'Below [Roger], Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat.'


  Foreshadows Piggy's death.

  Think about the other meaning pigs have in the book; the pig's head, which represents the inherent evil of mankind. If we look at it this way, the fact that even Piggy, the voice of reason, is aligned with pigs, suggests that evil is present ineveryone.
• Piggy wore the remainders of a pair of shorts'

  'the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow'

  Suggestion of the sundial.


  Attempts to hold on to order, and to replicate civilisation.

  (Again, this isn't necessarily a good thing, given that civilisation has just had a massive war)
• "What would a beast eat?"

  "Pig."

  "We eat pig."

  "Piggy!"'

  Foreshadows both P's death and the fact that the beast is internal.
• "Couldn't we stay here? Maybe the beast won't come near us."'

  AMBIGUITY: Either P thinks they'llallbe safer that way

  Or

  He thinks thathe'llbe safer that way.
• (When the boys are panicking about the beast and Piggy has an asthma attack)

  'Nobody minded him.'


  Shows the effect of an 'outward-facing', defensive circle.- it can lead to ignoring the problems those inside it might be having.
• They left Piggy propped up on the platform.'

  Foreshadowing P's death, as he is left in a similar position to the parachutist.
• [Simon] sought for help and sympathy and chose Piggy... who was looking at him with an expression of derisive incomprehension.'

  Here, P almost mirrors Jack's behaviour.

  Shows that no one is completely innocent or exempt from man's inherent evil; even P has a 'dark side'.
• the wood he fetched was close at hand'

  'full of pride at his contribution to the good of society'


  P is selfish, he does the minimum amount of effort.

  He is happy to work for the good of society as long as the good of society works for him.

  This hypocrisy kind of aligns him with Jack, which again suggests that everyone has the potential for evil.