LOTF

• Piggy


  • Outsider due to physical, social and intellectual differences
  • Represents the link with the adult world and responsibility
  • Very smart and a kind-hearted boy
• Piggy is inferior to the other boys in something as basic and essential as breathing
• Piggy relies upon his glasses for vision and metaphorically, he relies upon them for mental clarity
• The only strength in Piggy's character is his superior intellect but the boys still make fun of him and dismiss this quality
• Ralph


  • Depends on Piggy for his unique ability to think
  • Piggy represents a link to the adult world of reason, order, civilisation and responsibility
  • Piggy supports Ralph - importance of conch, helps Ralph remember the goal of rescue and the importance of the fire
  • Acts as Ralph's memory
• Conch


  • Talisman, the fragile, shining beauty of the shell
  • Symbol of civilisation on the island
• Piggy is the only boy on the island whose hair refuses to grow
• Piggy is unable to change his thinking, and this leads him to being unable to adapt to the island and the new environment
• Piggy is unable to see the fading respect for the conch and hence the fading respect for rules and civilisation
• Some of Piggy's plans are unrealistic and he contains stubbornness which possibly leads to his death
• Piggy denies any responsibility in Simon's murder, further showing how he is stubborn
• Piggy: '"You let me carry the conch Ralph. I'll show him the one thing he hasn't got."'
• Piggy: '"That's right. We was on the outside. We never done nothing, we never seen nothing."'
• Piggy's brutal and unforgiving death reveals to the reader how far gone the boys are, it reveals the darkness in their hearts
• Golding chooses to destroy Piggy and the conch simultaneously to reveal his connection to civilisation and to reveal the savagery in the other boys
• Golding reveals the positives of Piggy's character in the wake of his death. We never know Piggy's real name, only the debilitating and cruel nickname
• “what intelligence has been shown was traceable to Piggy.” > The only strength in Piggy’s character is his superior intellect but the boys still make fun of him and dismiss this quality. 
• “the true, wise friend called Piggy”
• the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” Golding chooses to destroy Piggy and the conch simultaneously to reveal his connection to civilisation and to reveal the savagery in the other boys