Piggy’s glasses represent intellect and the reckless way the boys handle them show how little they value intelligence. From the beginning, intelligence is not valued. Ralph does not respect Piggy nor his intelligence, and the rest of the would rather follow Ralph with his charisma and power and Jack with his aggressive nature. The boys see power and aggression as a way to succeed and ignore how intelligence can improve their society. The boys choose Ralph as their leader because of the power the conch gives him and pay no mind to Piggy, who is going out of his way to be logical and kind.
Timothy Liu: The significance of Piggy's glasses in Lord of the Flies. The Piggy's glasses represent a escape from times where he doesn't want to be notice. On pg 16, "Piggy outside: he went very pinik, bowed his head and clean his glasses again." Another example is on pg 15, He shrank to the otherside of Ralph and busied himself with his glasses."
To Ralph, Piggy’s glasses were a tool used for fire and didn't really serve much more use than for Piggy to comprehend what is going on around them. “Ralph – remember what we came
Piggy’s glasses are used to light the fire. Even though he can not see that well without them, he still usually gives them up very easily when they need to start the fire. “‘I’ll come too.’” (Golding 73) In this paragraph, Ralph takes Piggy’s glasses and says that he will bring them back.
When being stuck on an island with other people, there is a large possibility of so many things going wrong. In William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, this idea is illustrated throughout the book, from the boys in different ways. Since there is not just one person's fault things did not work out on the island, Piggy’s spectacles, the conch shell, and the signal fire are all part of it. Many things do not work out on the island because of Piggy’s spectacles, the conch, and the signal fire. First, Piggy’s spectacles symbolize intellectualism but led to uncivilization when the hunters stole Piggy’s glasses.
The symbolism of Piggy’s Glasses in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies Most people dismiss an everyday item like glasses as something that does not withhold great significance or importance. Items like glasses only become relevant when a group of young boys find themselves stranded on an island with very few resources to survive. Average everyday items, like glasses, symbolize progression and critical meanings throughout a novel. In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, Piggy’s glasses convey significant themes throughout the novel.
Piggy’s specs is an item that helps push the progression of the boys in Lord of the Flies for the better and for the worst. An example of this is from the beginning of the book when the boys made a pile of wood for a fire, it is suggested that “‘His specs- use them as burning glasses!’” (Golding 40). This fragment of text proves to the reader that Piggy’s glasses is a very important piece of technology for the society. The fire, made by the specs, help them with cooking food, making a signal fire, and much more.
Piggy’s glasses connects to his integrity because he acted like his true self when he had them on. Also as shown here by the way he instantly reacted to Ralph. Ralph was in the pool, while Piggy is on the side of the pool, then Ralph squirts water onto Piggy and laughs. He thought Piggy was going to just let it go and not do anything, but “Piggy beat the water with his hand” onto Ralph (Golding 131). Piggy demonstrates the lesson he learns because if Ralph had done this in the beginning of the book Piggy would 've just taken it or try to ask him to stop.
Piggy's glasses are an important factor of this novel and its importance changes a lot. In the book piggy talks about how they keep on taking his glasses and it foreshadows that the glasses are becoming more valuable than piggy. When the glasses break they fall down on rocks which foreshadow what will happen to Piggy when he dies. In the beginning of the novel his glasses represent his physical weakness, his intelligence, and towards the end when they figure out that the glasses can start a fire the glasses become a symbol of power. As the book goes on the glasses become more and more important and they eventually help them get saved.
At the beginning of the story, Piggy’s glasses represent logic and intelligence on the island since Piggy was tied to the outside world and had the most common sense out of the boys. However, the glasses were not only used by Piggy. For instance, Jack blurted out, “‘His specs— use them as burning glasses.’ Ralph moved the lenses back and forth… till an image of the declining sun lay on a piece of rotting wood’’ ( 40-41 ). To elaborate, Jack’s idea of using the lenses on the glasses shows how the boy’s, mostly Piggy’s intelligence helps them surging on the island.
In the Lord of the Flies, many symbols are used to portray the transformation the young boys go through during their time on the island. Three of the most meaningful symbols are Piggy’s specs, the conch shell, and the fire. In the beginning of the book, during the first description of the chubby boy named Piggy, the reader is notified that he has “thick spectacles”. (Golding7)
Piggy’s glasses, often used as a symbol of intelligence, are used to light the fire. When Piggy no longer has his glasses, it symbolizes the ignorance of the boys through the figurative “blindness”. When the boys take Piggy’s glasses, he has no use to them which portrays how useless the intellectual aspect of society to them is. His glasses served a great purpose but again, Piggy was discredited for them. Another symbol that depicts Piggy’s belief in civilization is his discovery of conch.
Piggy's glasses, small and simple, represent their main needs and their survival. The lenses magnification allows them to pinpoint the sunlight precisely, granting them an effective fire starter. A fire was kept alive at all times that illuminated the island, in hopes of drawing attention to get rescued. The deceased parachutist symbolizes their situation on the island compared to the real world conflicts occurring away from the island. The boat shaped island represents a microcosm of real world events.
In other cases, however, both Piggy and his glasses represent a voice of reason. Since Piggy’s first appearance in the story, he has been a reasonable character. He is the one who presented
This symbolizes the beginning of the end for civilization on the island. When one of the lenses breaks Jack gains more power and control over everyone. We also know that civilization is deeply implanted in Piggy himself. For one, he never turns savage and he is also the owner of the glasses. Even they are a big part of him as proven by the quote “ [Piggy] wiped his glasses and adjusted them on his button nose.
