What Does Piggy's Glasses Symbolize

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People are not always who they think they are, they change according to their situation. Even the most civilized man can become a complete savage. Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a novel about a group of British kids who get trapped on an island after their plane is shot down during a war, struggle to be civilized. The leader, Ralph, and his sidekick Piggy try to maintain law and order but it didn 't go as well as they imagined when they started to discover the savage inside them. In beginning of the novel the author uses the glasses to represent technology, knowledge and civilization. But as the story progresses the glasses symbolize fortune telling and savagery among the boys.

In the beginning of the novel, the glasses represent civilization and the boys’ only connection to the modern world. When the boys were debating on how to get rescued, they decided to make a fire but neither Jack nor Ralph knew how to make a fire in the old fashioned way. So Jack came up with the idea of using the glasses to make signal fire. He tells Ralph, “ His …show more content…

In the book, Piggy 's glasses is also a fortune teller. Each time the glasses get snatch away or stole from him, it eventually leads to something bad like killing Ralph by setting the whole island on fire . Also when a littlun die because of the signal fire in the beginning of the novel. Each time when the boys take the glasses without Piggy 's will, they are becoming more savages rather than civilized boys. At the end of the novel, Piggys and his glasses are gone so is the boys’ last thread of humanity.

In Lord of the Flies, the glasses represent both civilization and savagery because it shows the power of knowledge. William Golding portrays the idea of what can occur if a society loses its culture and intellect. The glasses are use to save humanity but at the same time, this technology or knowledge are misuse very easily. Golding communicates that knowledge can help society but also turn people on each