Piggy

’s Demise Essay, Research Paper

“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn t you?

I m part of you? Close, close, close! I m the reason why it s no go? Why things are what

they are?” In William Golding s novel, Lord of the Flies, one particular theme is

consistent throughout the novel. It shows how evil acts as a destructive force in which it

is carried out on the island in reference to Piggy s traits. In relation to this theme, Piggy s

character plays an important role within the novel. We can look at: Piggy s glasses as

being a deterioration of his hope, Jack s hatred for Piggy showing this corrupt force, and

the death of Piggy portraying the savageness broken out everywhere on the island, to

exemplify this idea of evil.

The destruction of Piggy s glasses seems to be of a pattern which Jack carries out

throughout the novel. This signifies Piggy s gradual deterioration of hope. In chapter two,

Jack roughly grabs Piggy s glasses to start a fire. His specs-use them as burning

glasses , Piggy was surrounded before he could back away. Here-Let me go! His voice

rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched the glasses off his face. Mind out! Give em

back! I can hardly see!… ( p.52-53 ) . The fire catches and blazes uncontrollably,

nearly killing the boys. The fire foreshadows and symbolizes future hatred and the

current evil against Piggy and soon the island. Also, in chapter four, when Piggy

criticizes the hunter, Jack viciously slaps him, breaking one of the lens from his glasses.

You would, would you? Fatty! Ralph made a step foreword and Jack smacked

Piggy s head. Piggy s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks. Piggy cried out in terror:

My specs! ( p. 89 ). Now Piggy has an even worse handicap: he is one lens short.

Once again, Jack has managed to give Piggy a limitation of his full capabilities. He now

can only see half of the problems taking place in his surroundings. From this Piggy has

an even greater feeling of terror towards Jack, as well as a feeling of hatred. It seems that

Jack is envious towards Piggy because he manages to keep an order of rationality on the

island. In chapter ten, Jack is currently living independently on the other side of the

island with his own tribe. They carry out a plan to steal Piggy s glasses to use as a

burning lens. Far off along the bowstone of the beach, three figures trotted towards the

Castle Rock… The chief led them, trotting steadily, exulting in his achievement. He was a

chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear. From his left hand

dangled Piggy s broken glasses ( p.207 ). This event represents how the savages

defeated the group that was still in touch with the morals of society. The final destruction

of Piggy s glasses, as well as the deterioration of his character, comes in chapter eleven.

Ralph demanded that Jack returned them to Piggy. An argument broke out. Suddenly a

giant boulder, pushed by one of Jack s tribesman, came hurtling down the mountain

towards Piggy. He hears the noise but cannot see the origin of the danger. It fatally kills

Piggy. This event shows how Piggy s handicap greatly affected him. The childish act of

taking his glasses was soon accompanied by death. Thus the deterioration of Piggy s

hope was carried out by the destructive force of evil present on the island.

Jack s hatred for Piggy fuels a rebellion. Piggy feels that because of him, Jack

revolted. One of the reasons that he rebelled was that he felt that the order kept by Piggy

was unreasonable At the beginning of the novel Piggy is bullied by Jack. This restores

Jack s pride after he is rejected to be their leader. Jack snatched from behind him a

sizable sheath-knife and clouted it into a trunk. The buzz rose and died away. Piggy

stirred. I ll come. Ralph turned to him. You re no good for a job like this. All the

same- We don t want you…three s enough. ( p.32 ). Even this early in the novel,

there is signs of hatred towards Piggy from Jack. He is mad at Piggy for the order that he

took over him and the rest of the group. Now that Jack has a task to carry out on the

island, he immediately shuts Piggy out. Also, after Jack caught a pig for dinner, he

refused to share any of it with Piggy. Simon shared his portion with him. Jack was

furious about this. Piggy spoke, also dribbling. Aren t I having none? … Simon, sitting

between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved a piece of meat over the rocks

to Piggy, who grabbed it. … Then Jack lept to his feet, slashed off a great hunk of meat,

and flung it down to Simon s feet. Eat! Damn you!… Take it! ( p.92 ). When Simon

gave some of the meat to Piggy, Jack was furious because he felt Piggy didn t deserve it.

This gave Jack even more reason to despise Piggy and later on a reason to rebel. Jack

was tired of all this order and rationality on the island. He wanted to be devote himself to

having fun and as well as being an avid hunter. Jack was becoming more of a savage

when compared to Piggy s order. I m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs.

Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too ( p.158 ). This was the last straw

for Jack. He was so overcome with emotion that he felt that there was only one thing to at

that time-to create his own tribe and live by his own standards, without the help of Piggy.

This rebellion of Jack can said to be caused by Piggy. Evil s destructive force came in

play here when Jack refused to live in a society with so many rules and high set

standards. Thus, he decided to break off on his own.

Piggy s death shows how evil is a harmful force on the island, and how the boys

had become savages. Jack s refusal to return Piggy s glasses portrays the downright

hatred and evilness towards him. You pinched Piggy s specs,…you ve got to give them

back. Got to? Who says? ( p.217 ). Keeping his glasses shows the reader how brutal

Jack has become in relation to other evil forces on the island. This act caused Piggy s

death. The destruction of Piggy s character and his beliefs on the island are met. Piggy

believes that order should be kept on the island in order to survive. The different events

that occur to Piggy have devastating effects on his character. His self-esteem is shot, his

vision becomes impaired, as well as his control over the group of boys. Piggy did not

want to become a savage, and Simon s death did not help in this situation at all. It was

an accident…that s what it was. An accident…Coming in the dark-he hadn t no business

crawling like that out of the dark. He was batty. He asked for it ( p.193-194 ). There is

a greater power working on the island than only the stranded boys. . Piggy s handicap

comes into effect when he and Ralph went to Jack s camp to reclaim Piggy s glasses. A

huge boulder was pushed down the hill heading towards Piggy. He heard the sound but

could not see what it was or sense where it was coming from. The boulder crushed him.

The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee… Piggy, saying nothing, with no

time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he

went. The rock bounced twice and was lost in the forest… His head opened and stuff

came out and turned red…Piggy was gone ( p.222-223 ). His handicap proved to be fatal.

Jack s savageness to not return Piggy s glasses ended in the unfortunate death of the one

individual who had managed to keep order on the island. Evil is once again seen, as well

as deterioration of Piggy s character, as a destructive force when we look at the death of

Piggy.

In closing, we see that Piggy s character never changes. Despite all that is going

on around him, he manages to remain civilized until his death. Upon examination of

Piggy s character in relation to his glasses being a deterioration of his hope, Jack s hatred

for Piggy showing this corrupt force, and the death of Piggy portraying the savageness

broken out everywhere on the island, we can now see how the evil on the island acts as

a destructive force while analyzing his character.