How Is Piggy's Death Shown In Lord Of The Flies

In war, innocent people are murdered, society and infrastructure are destroyed, and everyone exits the war weaker than they started. As Jack Merridew grew sick of being second in charge to Ralph, the bonds between the boys weakened. This caused the boys to split into two groups late in the book. Ralph’s tribe intended to maintain the fire in the hope to attract a potential rescuer while Jack’s tribe of hunters only hoped to hunt pigs and have fun. Not long after, civil war ensued on the island. In the novel “The Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, the war between the two tribes, led by Jack and Ralph, accomplished nothing while leaving casualties, becoming primitive and archaic, and ruining the whole island.

The war that terrorized and

Due to this, Piggy, one of the casualties, suffered a gruesome death at the hands of Jack’s hunters, leaving Ralph without the person with whom he felt the deepest connection. During the last and largest battle, Roger sent a boulder hurling down the mountain straight into Piggy. Piggy “...fell forty feet” and landed head-first onto a rock protruding from the sea. His arms “twitched” and were described like a pig “...after it has been killed.”(Page 241). Piggy’s senseless death was a display of the lack of self-control Jack’s tribe has. Ralph watched his friend die while Jack threatened “‘That's what you'll get!’” (Page 241). The boys had lost all sense of values and morals. They had just killed one of the boys and showed no remorse. Their lust for excitement drove them to kill an innocent boy. Ralph, felt alone and traumatized by the loss of his friend. He felt isolated when “there was no Piggy to talk sense” (Page 260). Piggy had always been the voice of reason and the only person who stuck with him the entire time they were on the island. The destruction of Ralph and Piggy’s relationship and the murder of Piggy shows the sheer primitiveness of Jack and his

It can be said that the boys are veterans in the sense that they too have fought in a war. Many of these boys on the island will suffer from PTSD after the traumatic events they have experienced including witnessing Piggy’s grim death, murdering Simon, and nearly dying. When Piggy was murdered, his head “...opened and stuff came out and turned red.” (Page 241). The gory description of the death of a young boy is enough to traumatize anybody. Not to mention that these are boys, some no older than five years old. It is distressing and disturbing for a child to witness a graphic crime such as this. The boys will have trouble living their lives as if nothing has happened, especially after viewing such a heinous incident. It is clear Ralph is the most transformed by the events that occurred on the island. When the naval officer arrived on the island, Ralph let his emotions run for the first time since he was voted leader, a role where emotions only get in the way of things. Ralph started to reflect on the death of his friends and the “...burning wreckage of the island” which produced “...shuddering spasms of grief”(Page 268). Ralph’s emotional breakdown is powerful because it displays how he fought his emotions to keep up his facade of a strong leader. He “wept for the end of innocence”(Page 268). He wept for his innocence but for