Piggy in Lord of the flies

• Piggy


  • Comes from a lower social class than the other boys
  • More thoughtful and mature than his companions
  • Uses rational thinking to come to conclusions
  • Realises without adults the boys are in danger of becoming uncivilised
  • Believes the boys need leadership, rules and organisation
• Piggy


  • Annoying to the other boys as he always wants to spoil their fun
  • Physically different - fat, has asthma, wears glasses
  • Treated as an outsider by the rest of the group
• Piggy's real name is never revealed
• Piggy is treated like one of the pigs on the island

  He is brutally killed
• Piggy


  • Remains an outsider and a victim throughout the novel
  • Ralph comes to respect him
• Outsider


  How Piggy is like this: comes from lower social class, wears glasses, is fat, has asthma, seems lazy, different from the others
• Rational


  Piggy is full of thoughts and theories, fond of reminding others about the adult world they have left behind
• Evidence of Piggy being an outsider

  • Piggy misinterpreted a smile as friendliness
  • The other boys saw Piggy as an outsider due to his accent, fat, asthma, glasses, and dislike of manual labour
• Organiser


  • Piggy tries to be a good organiser from the start, suggesting using the conch to call a meeting and making a list of names
• Evidence of Piggy as an organiser

  • Piggy gets angry when the boys don't follow his suggestions for building shelters and acting properly
• ”My auntie told me not to run“


  Only feminine voice in the novel (links to sexist views in 1960s)
• “I’ve been wearing specs since I was three“


  ”Specs” symbolic representation of intelligence and links to fire
• “I didn’t expect nothing“


  Double negative, non standard grammar (lower class)
• “A storm of laughter arose and even the tiniest child joined in”


  “Storm of laughter” metaphor for Piggy’s social derision. (Boys ridiculing him)
• “Closed circuit of sympathy with Piggy outside“


  Piggy is vulnerable he is an outsider.
• “Piggy’s glasses were misted again-this time with humiliation.”


  Piggy is ignored due to his assumed weakness and vulnerability
• “Acting like a crowd of kids”


  Irony- they are children attempting to live in an adult civilisation. Acting on their savagery.
• “His voice rose to a shriek of terror“


  likened to prey, squealing of a pig
• “Piggy glanced nervously into hell and cradled the conch.”


  “into hell”-Symbolic Representation of the boys savagery. “Cradled” Dynamic verb insinuates piggy’s protection of democratic freedom of speech.
• “He was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow“


  Represents his refusal to descend into savagery.
• “We could make a sundial”


  Representation of piggy’s intelligence
• “But Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had Brains.”


  Acknowledgment that piggy is intelligent
• “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?“


  Piggy’s observation that the boys are descending into savagery (I’d)
• “We-what they did?”


  Removes collective pronoun to absolve himself of guilt and shame
• “He asked for it”


  Victim blaming. Delirious hysteria: removing accountability
• “We never done nothing“


  double negative grammatically is a subtle admission of guilt.
• “Are we savages or what?”


  Rhetorical question is a dawning realisation/level of acceptance.
• “Piggy peered anxiously into the luminous veil that hung between him and the world“


  Symbolically represents active disillusionment and disconnection with humanity
• “Which is better- to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?”


  Piggy attempts to appeal to their humanity and make them realise their cruelty and temptation