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.
The last significant symbol from the book was Piggy’s glasses. Used throughout the book to both help Piggy see and to light the fire, Piggy’s glasses played a very important role. During the course of Lord of the Flies, it was evident that Piggy was the most rational boy on the island, even though he was often ridiculed by his peers. Piggy saw clearly when others lost sight of themselves. The real downfall of the story began when Piggy’s glasses were stolen from him, when Jack Merridew and his tribe of savages attacked him.
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
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding has many symbols within it, but the strongest and biggest symbol is Piggy’s glasses because them being stolen from him marked a significant change in their behaviors from civil to savage and they were the reason the fire was made that led to their rescue. Towards the end of the book, Jack and a few others stole Piggy’s glasses from him with brute force. Not only did this action make Piggy useless, but it gave the most powerful thing on the island to the most corrupt and savage boy. When Jack attacked the shelter, “Ralph and Piggy’s corner became a complication of snarls and crashes and flying limbs,” (Golding 167) proving that Jack was far from civil in his way of obtaining the glasses. This moment
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.
In order to survive our adversities some of us need survival factors. For instance, Salva Dut from “A Long Walk to Water” by Linda Sue Park needed survival factors in order to survive his adversities. This book is nonfiction and explains the story of Salva Dut-Ariik and what he did to survive. Salva used many survival factors such as bravery, hope and determination. Salva needed bravery.
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.
Throughout this book it is a theme that the boys are forced to simulate adults for means or survival. The quote “Piggy was ... so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society … that he helped to fetch wood.” shows that people weren 't forced to help out and fetch wood, at first, people were offering to help out for the better of others. There was both positives and negatives that came out of this, one of them being the ending of Piggy, the quote“There was no piggy to talk sense” is showing that if people attempt to cut off a certain limb or branch of society they will result in something unbalanced, such as an upside down triangle or an upside down pyramid.
This displays how Piggy is sagacious and knowledgeable, by giving accommodating propositions in a time of desperate need when the rest of the boys are quite lost and do not quite know what to do, for he is the only one smart enough to dare and bring up such an idea. Suggesting rational solutions and helping the boys find a way by using his intellectuality, to create smoke, exhibits his insightful collaboration in order to get rescued. Another example that demonstrates Piggy is incisive is when he declares, “You have doctors for everything, even the inside of your mind. You don’t really mean that we got to be frightened all the time of nothing? Life…is scientific, that’s what it is.
(page 18) The entire time they are trapped on the island, Ralph is determined to get rescued. He views a fire with a smoke signal to be the only way to be saved. Piggy's glasses are the only way the boys know to start a fire so this give him some degree of importance.
Part of Piggy’s appearance is his glasses, and they constantly get Piggy harassed or bullied, Without the aid of his glasses, Piggy is practically blind, and as a metaphorical aspect, Golding tries to tell us that Piggy is blind to the word if he isn’t wearing his glasses. When Jack constantly hits Piggy and ends up cracking the lenses of the glasses, Jack is breaking apart of Piggy; Jack is taking parts of Piggy and shattering them, making it almost impossible for Piggy to see what is going on around him. In another perspective, Piggy uses his glasses almost as a safety net, relying on them to help him survive and get through the rough times. When the boys realize this, they start taking his glasses from him to light the fire without even asking for Piggy’s permission, Jack starts slapping Piggy which breaks the glasses and causes Piggy to
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.
The boys decided to Piggy’s glasses to start a fire but gave him no say in it. “Here – let me go! His voice rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched off his glasses…Ralph elbowed him to the side and knelt by the pile.” (Golding 40) Most anyone would have thrown a punch or yelled to get the glasses back and started arguing.
As the author explains, he is a boy with a glasses who is almost blind without his specs; however, nobody even cares about his situation and never stop bullying him. For instance, the times Jack takes Piggy’s glasses, Piggy goes almost blind and cannot see anything. We can understand his pain and feelings when he starts shouting and crying; “ Here–let me go! … Mind out! Give ’em back!
