Piggy's Glasses Symbolism

993 Words4 Pages

Morgan Vonderbruegge Mr. Powell English 10H 8 December 2015 Literary Analysis: Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies is a book written about a little group of boys who get stranded on a island, their plane got shot down so they are stranded. The little group goes through a lot of problems within their time of being on the island. Most of them survive, there was a lot of tension between the boys and they fought, as normal boys would. The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a very symbolic story, four reasons why is the conch shell, piggy’s glasses, the signal fire, and the beast. The first way the symbolism is represented is by the conch shell. Two boys find the conch shell, Ralph and Piggy to be exact, but they find it on the beach …show more content…

The glasses are symbolic because Piggy is the smart one, and his glasses mean the power and science in the world. It is clear as soon as the boys use Piggy’s glass lenses to start a fire that his glasses are a major symbol in the story. In the story though Piggy’s glasses get stolen, and the power of making fire got taken away from them. Piggy’s glasses don’t represent all good things though, they are used to symbolize his weaknesses with the boys picking on him. He already stands out with him wearing his glass, they pick on him for that, his weight, and his health problems. Also when he doesn’t have his glasses on he is blind so he becomes a boy that can easily be taken advantage of. Jack takes them off of Piggy to light the fires all of the time, without asking sometimes, and that is a way of Piggy’s use for the boys. So when the boys take them and use them Piggy cannot see, Piggy says in the story “Jus’ blurs, that’s all. Hardly see my hand(Golding 53).” This shows that the boys could take advantage of Piggy and do anything with him. He couldn’t defend himself if they tried anything anyways. Piggy’s glasses symbolize his strengths and …show more content…

It represents evil and darkness. The boys are afraid, but as they become more “savage” their belief in the beast becomes bigger. Although by the end of the book they treat the beast as a god like figure. The boys behavior is what makes the beast, so the longer they are on this island, stranded, the more they will believe. The story says “Life… is scientific… I know there isn't no beast… but I know there isn't no fear, either… Unless we get frightened of people(Golding 84).” This means the island is creating fear in the boys and they must work very hard to get passed the fear that they are dealing with. The fear is prohibiting the boys from functioning