Piggy In Lord Of The Flies

What is one object you would like to bring to a stranded island? Most people of the 21st century would say their phone, a symbol of technology. The writer of the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding describes Piggy’s character in great detail using symbols, which reflect on his personality as well as civilization. Piggy is a clever boy who shares his knowledge with the rest of the boys throughout the novel. However, he is also a victim of asthma and myopia, the condition of being short sighted. Myopia is fixed by wearing glasses, which is a symbol of technology and civilization. Piggy plays a major role throughout the novel and serves as symbols of logic, scientific knowledge as well as inferiority.
When trapped on a stranded island with

Ralph continually imagines that “When [his dad] gets leave, he’ll come and rescue [them]”(7). However, Piggy’s glasses allow him to not only see far objects, but also think about their future on the island realistically. Piggy knows that Ralph’s dad is not going to find them. Hence, he suggests that they need to start figuring a way out on their own to survive their days or even years on the island. Thus, while all the boys on the island are practically doing nothing, Piggy comes up with an idea of making a sundial to keep track of the time and complete essential tasks. Piggy’s glasses represent science, therefore, Piggy has the ability to do the mathematical procedure of making a sundial. But, Ralph struggles to understand the mathematics behind the scientific project. Since the rest of the boys on the island aren’t knowledgeable enough, Piggy fails to bring civilization through making a sundial, and his idea goes unappreciated.Soon after, Jack and Ralph get in an argument and “Jack [smacks] Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses [fly] off and [tinkle] on the rocks.”(60) One of the lenses of Piggy’s glasses break leaving Piggy with only one eye. The breaking of his glasses is a metaphor for the breaking up of any possible tie with civilization and law and order. After this incident, Piggy becomes visually impaired and loses a part of his identity, which foreshadows Piggy’s ideas and

Piggy, the only one with glasses is an outcast, not only because he wears glasses, but also because he is a “fatty”(17). Jack and Ralph do not even let Piggy finish a sentence without saying “Shut up!” which creates the feeling of pity towards Piggy and the feeling of hatred towards the other boys. Piggy also suffers from “ass-mar” giving the boys another reason to verbally harass him for his lack of fitness. Despite his problems, Piggy being the kind and generous boy continues to help start a fire by carrying branches up the mountain. Yet Jack uses his assertiveness and authority over the pig’s meat and denies Piggy any meat. Jack uses prejudice against Piggy to gain popularity amongst the savages by sharing common dislike. Surprisingly, Piggy is also described in a way that makes it seem like he is also enforcing the idea of inferiority. Until Piggy introduces himself to the audience, he is referred to as “the fat boy”. Moreover, the novel begins by describing Piggy as, “shorter than the fair boy and very fat”. Ironically, that fat boy is the one behind all of Ralph’s sensible decisions. He is an outcast because of his glasses yet that object is the reason why the boys got rescued even after Piggy died. The glasses represent fire and give Piggy the ability to notice the boys changing into tribal savages. Piggy speaks about responsibilities for survival, but he,