Leadership Roles In Lord Of The Flies, By William Golding

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a book detailing the survival and adaptation of young British boys after they are stranded on an island. While on the island, the boys face the struggle of humanity vs savagery. Two of the more civilized boys are Piggy and Simon. Piggy and Simon are less regarded, not having huge leadership roles, but they inherently affect the mini-society the boys are trying to create. The nurturing presences of Piggy and Simon have great effect on the littluns, the balance of power between Ralph and Jack within the group, and the virtues held, and lost, on the island through their symbolic deaths.
Piggy and Simon were kind to the littluns, helping them feel more comfortable during uncertain times. The two boys are

In this excerpt, Piggy is making an effort to get to know the children, humanizing them. As a result, the boys remain compliant to his efforts, just as one would obey a parent. Piggy also comforts the littluns, being one of the only understanding big kids on the island. This is shown when Golding writes, “[t]he small boy looked round in panic. ‘Speak up!’ The small boy held out his hands for the conch and the assembly shouted with laughter; at once he snatched back his hands and started to cry. ‘Let him have the conch!’ shouted Piggy. ‘Let him have it!’ At last Ralph induced him to hold the shell but by then the blow of laughter had taken away the child's voice. Piggy knelt by him, one hand on the great shell, listening and interpreting to the assembly” (Golding 27). Here, a littlun is clearly frightened to go in front of big kids and speak about his fears. Many of the boys poke fun at him. Piggy; however, sticks up for the boy and serves as a translator to what the boy is trying to say. Simon is much more docile than the other boys. He is also smaller in appearance and not much older than the littluns, so he decides to help them when he can. In Lord of the Flies

While this is true, they also represent virtues that affect all of the boys. Piggy represents intellect and rationality. He tries to maintain an order of society and helps the boys grasp onto civilization as long as he can. His death shows the end of this. In the novel, Golding writes, “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red” (Golding 163). Piggy’s death symbolizes a fall from grace. This term is fitting because it is an idiom used to describe Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the garden paradise, a biblical story Golding creates parallels to throughout the novel. It shows the once beautiful paradise has now become hellish. The fall symbolizes the loss of innocence and civilization in order to demonstrate how savage the boys have become. Simon dies before Piggy and can be considered the most impactful death in the whole novel. His death is foreshadowed in the discussion with the Lord of the Flies. The Lord of the Flies taunts him saying, “‘[y]ou knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close,