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What Is Piggy's Glasses Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

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Lord of the Flies is a psychological novel written by William Golding. This novel describes the journey of a group of British boys, without adults, on a deserted island. As they struggle to survive on an island without organization, they find themselves resorting to and relying on several symbolic items that serve multiple purposes to help the boys survive and create a sense of civilization on the island. One of the more “influential” symbols referenced throughout the novel is nothing more than a conch shell. This shell was discovered by both Ralph and Piggy shortly after they regained consciousness upon their arrival on the island. This discovery was significant because it symbolized order and civilization for the boys on the island. Without …show more content…

Throughout his time on the island, Piggy developed an awkward tic to fidget with his glasses and clean them off when he was nervous or intimidated. It might even be said that he used the glasses as a “mask” to hide his true feelings about a situation. For example, when all of the boys were taunting him about his name, he cowered away and fidgetted with the glasses. In the text it stated, “.he went very pink, bowed his head, and cleaned his glasses again,” (21). While Piggy’s sense of security was his glasses, the other boys all had something on the island that helped them mask their feelings. For example, some of the other boys used battle paint as a mask. When they were preparing to hunt, the boys used a charcoal stick to create an intimidating persona for themselves. With the paint on their faces, they obtained new personalities that helped them feel more confident when hunting. In reference to Jack, for example, the text stated, “Beside the pool his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled them,” (64). In this case, Piggy’s glasses are significant to the novel because they created a sense of security, not only for himself, but as a representation of the anxiety all of the boys felt on the island. 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

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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.

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Piggy and his glasses play very vital roles in the book. For example, without Piggy Ralph wouldn't have known how to blow the conch. Another way Piggy is vital is that his glasses are used to start the fires. The glasses can symbolize law and order which is what Piggy represents as well. Piggy is more of an intellectual person that is outcasted by the other boys because he can not do much of any physical work.

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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."

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Sereno,Vernon: The significance of the glasses is that is symbolizes the inteligence of the group. In chapter 2, page 34 it reads: Piggy puts on his glasses. " Nobody knows where we are. " This shows that he thought long and hard about the situation and didn 't have a fun time. This quote supports my answer because since Piggy has asthma and wears glasses, he has a lot more time to think than the other kids.

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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

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Piggy was ‘blinded’ after his glasses were stolen and that represented the blindness of Jacks tribe, to the evil in which they were succumbing too. Piggy’s glasses, with the addition of Piggy himself, both were also an example of the decline into savagery. The disregard for Piggy and his glasses, together illustrate the decline into savagery. The glasses were a characterization of Piggy himself, without them he was useless, and the world he represented was useless too.

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In chapter eleven, “Paired and Pared”, of The Sibling Effect, author Jeffrey Kluger informs his audience about twins and only children and how they are different than other broods. Not only are twins and only children, referred to as “singletons,” biologically different, but their emotional, physical, psychological, and social development is as well. By devoting an entire chapter solely to twins and singletons, Kluger is indirectly claiming that these offspring view the world in a special, and sometimes unexplainable, way. Kluger validates this claim by the use of governmental policies, psychological studies, controversial viewpoints, and personal narratives. Kluger opens up the chapter by summarizing the harsh views of psychologists G. Stanley Hall and Abraham Arden Brill.

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The glasses which represented a form of intelligence was used to the benefit of these boys, since the glasses had been used in a heroic way it can somewhat help interpret intelligence, despite its destruction when they were shattered in a brawl between Ralph and Jake which ultimately ended with the death of piggy.

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Piggy could not function if he did not have them and therefore they were used against him by the other boys. The bullies would take his glasses to prove their superiority and to intimidate him. When they realized that Piggy’s glasses were his lifeline, they increased their taunting and reduced his value to the community by preventing him from participating in hunting and other

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Piggy’s glasses symbolize the turn to savagery on the island in

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The boys took advantage of his weakness to make a fire but they also degraded Piggy. Piggy complains that he can’t see and that everything is just a blur and the glasses symbolize how the boys made him feel weak by taking them away from him. Finally, later on in the book Jack hit Piggy on the back of his head and that is when his glasses fell and broke on the rock. Then “Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks”(71).

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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.

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" Lord of the Flies" is a novel about a group of young boys who find themselves alone on a barren island. They build norms and organizational systems, but in the absence of adults to serve as a civilizing impetus, the children inevitably become violent and vicious. Through the emblem of the conch shell, William Golding shows how the loss of order/civilization and law leads to the emergence of barbaric behavior triumphing over society.

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Physically, his specs are just a tool to help his impaired vision and to portray him as the most vulnerable of the boys, but there is a lot more meaning to them than just vision advancement. Allegorically, Piggy’s glasses represent his intelligence and civilization on the island. At the beginning of the novel, when he can see clearly with his fixed glasses, the boys are off to a good start by establishing order. However, once his glasses become impaired, the schoolboys actions become questionable, leading them to inhuman chaos. The author expresses, “Ralph made a step forward and Jack smacked Piggy’s head.

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“Young Goodman Brown” is a tale about a man experiencing evil and having his life changed forever due to the experience. While it is said that this story may simply be a dream, the progression of the events that occur leave the main character changed for life. Using a psychoanalytical approach, it can be proved that that the main character, Goodman Brown, is not who he seems to be and is riddled with dysfunctional behavior. Scholarly Journal Articles by authors Joan Elizabeth Easterly and Patrick W. Shaw can be used to provide evidence that the main character of this story displays behaviors that are not considered to be in good taste by today’s standards. Overall, Goodman Brown is a vessel of dysfunctional behavior and this is portrayed through the use of symbolism, antics, and actions that occur throughout the story.

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