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Piggy Lord Of The Flies Essay

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The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding encapsulates the exemplary castaway tale. A plane has crashed on a deserted island, and the characters struggle to find ways to survive. In this novel however, there are no adults stranded on the island, only young boys aged from six to about thirteen. At first, the boys were ecstatic. They are living the lives of their dreams: A life with no grownups. Yet, as the story progresses, the boys begin to delve deeper and deeper into savagery. The struggles of power and leadership become more violent, and these once proper English kids truly become a wild pack. One of these young boys goes by the name of Piggy. Piggy is proven to be the smartest on the island, as he has ideas that no other boy can come …show more content…

Despite Piggy’s intelligence and kindness, he is bullied relentlessly, and for a number of reasons. Piggy suffers from asthma, and this, mixed with his larger size, makes him susceptible to size shaming. Piggy also has a disinclination to do manual labor, which just adds fuel to the fire, and he is just a fat, lazy kid. Right at the start of the novel, Ralph asks for Piggy’s name, and he tells him that he was called Piggy. Ralph just goes with this, and we never learn Piggy’s real name, just this pseudonym that represents one flaw in his character. Ralph would constantly bully Piggy and put him down, but Piggy never left his side, and really gave Ralph all the good ideas on how to lead on the island. Another threat to Piggy was Jack, who also bullied him relentlessly. Jack, however, was much more violent towards Piggy, and would berate him for any small reason. The presence of Jack made Piggy scared to speak up, and his intelligence was hidden in the shadow of Jack’s wrath and …show more content…

Piggy lets them know that nobody knows of their existence on this island, and they may not be rescued. He is brutally honest about his thoughts, even if they cause fear. A little boy tries to speak up, but is laughed at and made fun of. Piggy stands up for the boy, and demands that he be given the conch. Nobody takes him seriously, so Piggy speaks for the boy. The idea of a beast springs into the minds of the boys, and there is a mix of fright and excitement. Ralph gives the idea that they need a fire on the mountain, and all the boys go running like a pack of wild wolves. At the top of the mountain, Piggy is attacked by the boys, who take his glasses to light the fire. He cries out of worry, but nobody listens to him. The fire created is a huge, unruly flame and it crashed a large part of the island. Piggy is rational and tells the boys that a fire of that size will never be maintained. An argument breaks out, as Ralph keeps hushing Piggy, but listening to the other boys, and Piggy has had enough. He gets angry at Ralph, and using this anger, he gains confidence, and gives the group more ideas that will keep them alive, such as building

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