Piggy Lord Of The Flies Analysis

Explore Golding’s presentation of Piggy in Lord of the Flies. Could it be argued that Piggy is a hero?

Lord of the flies dramatizes the conflict between the civilisation and savagery that exists in all human beings. Every choice that the author makes is designed to emphasize the struggle between the order of society, which includes morality, order, law and culture and chaotic elements of humanity’s savage instincts, which include anarchy, bloodlust, the desire for power, amorality, selfishness and violence. As the story progresses we see the swift fall of civilisation and the rise of savagery which is a key motif of this dystopian novel. One of the main characters, Piggy is used to present many allegorical messages such as injustice in society. However as savagery becomes more intense in the novel, Piggy is defenceless and weak so begins to suffer more injustices and eventually

loses his life speaking out against it. I believe that this novel shows that Piggy is a hero which can be debated through his vulnerability, the descent from civilisation to savagery and his death. The dictionary definition of a hero is “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.”
From the start of the novel Golding describes Piggy as "the fat boy," this is referring to his physical appearance and this adjective indicates and highlights the undesirable trait of obesity, which makes him different, therefore unacceptable in society as he stands out. Piggy's physical appearance also includes poor eyesight, 'wearing specs since I was three," and "asthma;" people with these traits cannot fend for themselves as well as healthier people and so die off quicker, as the fittest survive. Piggy has the handicap of asthma that makes him weak and holds him back from having fun with the other boys, therefore excluding him from the fun the boys enjoy, "I can't swim on account of my asthma". All this shows that Piggy is vulnerable to exclusion from the group.
A pig is often ugly, white and rather plump and often represents someone who is greedy, which can relate to his character as he is immobile and lazy reaping advantages of other’s efforts.

“He wiped his glasses and adjusted them on his button nose. The frame had made a deep, pink V on the bridge.” Whenever, Piggy is talked about, there is always a description of the pig. “Button nose” refers to the button like nose, he and a pig share. The boys cannot look beyond his appearance demonstrating the idea that the boys do not accept him as a human being and shows his lack of identity and worth as well as the fact it is an animal that is hunted and killed on the island; a parallel to Piggy's fate. Pigs are slaughtered and eaten because they are inferior to us. They are inferior as they aren’t nice to look at and no one wants them. According to these points, Piggy cannot yet be classified as a hero as he hasn’t demonstrated any noble qualities but is just seen as a social outcast, almost a caricature of a school nerd. His attitude and disabilities often limit him to achieve his true

potential.
However, Piggy may not be a hero, but he has some characteristics of one. People rely on a hero to survive, and without piggy, the boys would not have lived as long as they did. We use pigs for protein and we need protein to grow and develop. It is a two way path between a farmer and the pig as the farmer relies on the pig for profit, and vice versa for food. It may be seen that Piggy helped the boys to mature.
His submissiveness is another quality which adds to his vulnerability. In a large proportion of the dialogue in which he is included, he is teased and used. "He's not fatty," cried Ralph, "his real name's Piggy!" In this example it is shown that ralph has betrayed Piggy’s trust and revealed to the group the stick which was used to abuse him all his life. If he is going to allow others to discriminate him, then how is he supposed to defend a group, or even himself? What comes along with submissiveness, is being a follower or a sheep. The quote helps show his vulnerability, because it shows that Piggy has been kicked around and been made fun of for a lot of his life. That knowledge makes the reader like him. In a way, it makes the reader really want Piggy to win. It's a classic underdog mentality. We want to see the little guy win. Golding goes one step further with Piggy in that the reader knows that Piggy is right. He stands for a world of order, rules, and law. The other boys, Jack and Roger most notably, stand for a world of destruction. This portrays him as a hero as it is the hero who is wanted to survive till the end. “All the same ... I was with him when he found the conch. I was with him before anyone else.” The phrase "I was with him" helps portray Piggy as being with the leader rather than being the leader. The reference to finding the conch in Piggy's response is also significant. What's particularly interesting is that it was Piggy who knew and recognized what the conch was, and it was Piggy's idea to try and use the conch to summon the stranded boys. Hence, Golding is portraying Piggy as not being a leader, not due to his skills but rather simply because he lacks confidence and doesn't know his own mind.
The boys' constant teasing causes Piggy to have extremely low self-esteem and this brings out his personality weaknesses. Piggy always has a suggestion at the assemblies and always gives his point of view, by doing this he makes himself vulnerable and the others take advantage. When Ralph makes up the rules of the conch at the beginning of chapter two, Piggy is the first boy to take the conch out of Ralph's hand and say something. This shows that for Piggy to gather up confidence he needs to look outside of himself for a source of power, which is generally the conch, "Piggy was standing cradling the great cream shell." The word "cradling" is associated with comfort and shows that without the conch Piggy would remain silent. This shows that Piggy has a lack of confidence that makes him different and so an easy target. This is also shown in chapter five, 'Beast from Water,' when Ralph makes a remark about Piggy standing up to Jack, Piggy says "I had the conch, I had the right to speak" without this right it is doubtful that Piggy would stand up for himself. Without the conch, he would be without confidence. Piggy is the only orphan on the island which adds to his low level of self-confidence. He is often the object of ridicule and relies on ralph for protection. A hero/leader should not have to rely on anything to help fight, but face his fears and win
Piggy is shown to be a hero through the theme of civilisation, but sometimes the complete opposite. Golding uses the image of hair to illustrate his steady devotion to order, self-control and civilization. "He was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow." Golding uses the word "only" to describe Piggy, as he is again set apart from the other boys, as the only one with clean, cut hair. The boys' hair growing wild suggests they have lost control and are rebelling against the rules anarchically, which reflects the distance between themselves and civilized society. Piggy has not strayed from civilization so his hair has not grown, showing him to be different and isolated. In addition the author's description of his baldness presents an image of old age and vulnerability, as hair is traditionally associated with youth and strength. This lack of power makes him an easy victim.
In addition, Piggy represents an adult world. “Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?” The quote shows how strongly Piggy supports this concept. The author's simplicity in words here helps show the reader how clearly black and white Piggy sees the world. It's either rules and laws, or destruction. There is no middle ground in his mind. There is no room for debate. While Piggy represents the adult world, he is not an adult, but he holds the adult world as good and right. He adheres to rules of law and the enforcement of them. He represents education and logic, and throughout the story, Piggy attempts to remind the rest of the group of those influences. In most cases, the hero of any given story wins and doesn't die. The hero might get beat over and over again, but in the end comes out victorious. Piggy struggles against a power greater than his; that power is Jack, his gang, and the savagery that they are devolving into. Piggy does an admirable job in his fight to remind the boys of law, order, and logic, but he still loses. In fact, he loses his life to his cause. Sometimes the death of a hero may spark change in those people that the hero was trying to influence, but that isn't the case with Piggy. His death doesn't cause Jack or Roger to do anything other than continue down their path even further. Piggy is not a hero, because he is ineffective at leading any kind of change toward his beliefs and values. He doesn't physically save the boys in a literal sense, nor does he figuratively save them from their debase behaviour.
As I have said, Piggy is not truly a hero in the traditional sense of this word; however, he does exhibit heroic virtue in his insistence that the vestiges of civilization be upheld as the others regress to savagery. He has a hamartia of not being able to adapt, and he is killed, causing some catharsis, so he can be classified as a tragic hero. From the beginning, he has insisted that there be rules and procedures followed, knowing that Britain has become great and powerful by support to form and protocol. “I agree with Ralph. We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything. So we've got to do the right things.” Further, he asks the other boys, "How can you expect to be rescued if you don't put first things first and act proper?" Clearly, Piggy is the perfect Brit of his time, recalling the history of his great and powerful nation that owned an empire. Always Piggy is against "bad form" as the British call breaking from discipline and rules. He insists upon the rules of meetings, respect for the conch as a symbol of order, and rationality as opposed to brutish behaviour.
For instance in chapter 1, Piggy starts planning and wants to find the other boys, make a list of all the boys' names, and call a meeting. He recognizes the immediate need to create order in what is otherwise uncertainty and turmoil. He emulates his aunty to ensure success. Piggy is heroic in that he is different, demands a certain standard from himself, is determined to use his good sense and rational mind for the greater good, and does not allow himself to be complacent. In addition, despite suffering a trauma, Piggy is determined to rise above it and therefore meets another criteria for a hero. Even though he is unpopular because the boys, especially Jack, sense that he may spoil their fun, he perseveres in setting standards and having high expectations. Although the overall impression that Piggy portrays is very morally right and compassionate to others he also has some slightly adverse aspects to his personality. For instance, Piggy is angry about the forest fire and the disappearance of the boy with the birthmark, but ironically Piggy’s glasses were used to start the fire, therefore Piggy is indirectly accountable. Golding may have not only used this to show that there is a hint of bad in everyone but also show how seemingly good ideas can often lead to terrible things. This is very true of life in general and perhaps Golding was trying to expose the idea of a ’snowball effect’. This idea was extremely evident throughout the world war.
In Chapter Eight, Piggy reiterates to the increasingly unruly boys that the most important thing on the island is the smoke from the rescue fire. He it is who has "the intellectual daring to suggest moving the fire from the mountain" after Jack and his hunters have stolen it. In fact, he takes delight in his success of having defeated Jack's attempt to foil Ralph and his group that he helps to fetch the wood for the fire. Certainly, Piggy's intelligence and forethought and absolute insistence upon maintaining rules is virtuous and heroic in the sense of exhibiting bravery in the face of the encroaching anarchy of Jack and his followers.
Piggy’s death proves him to be heroic as he sacrifices himself, for the greater good. It comes at a time when he has finally decided he should make himself heard. He has always been afraid of Jack and has hidden behind the conch or Ralph. It takes a lot of courage to come forward now. A hero has to be courageous and be interested in the greater good. If Piggy was only interested in saving himself he would not have selflessly faced Jack or talked of "which is better-rules ... or to hunt and kill?"
Previously, in chapter 5, Piggy admits his fear of Jack and how the feeling he gets from Jack is comparable to having asthma when he can't breathe. He admits that Jack would be unlikely to hurt Ralph but "he'd hurt the next thing" which is Piggy. Piggy urges Ralph to keep up his position as chief because things are "going rotten" and only Ralph has some hope of re-establishing order. Piggy is always the person who can talk sense into Ralph and Piggy does not claim credit for himself, revealing his humility. Golding therefore uses characterization to develop Piggy's supportive role and reveal his true value. Just before his death when he bravely confronts Jack, Piggy grasps at "the talisman the fragile, shining beauty of the shell".
When he dies moments later, the conch is smashed on the rocks and the visual picture is vivid as the reader imagines "a thousand white fragments." The reader is brought down to earth with a jolt as the narrator states that the conch "ceased to exist." Then it is Piggy's turn and it is almost as if his death is happening in slow motion as he "travelled through the air sideways." However, the reader is again jolted into reality as the narrator describes the "stuff" coming out of Piggy's head. The language is blunt and shocking and real. Golding uses very descriptive language to complete the scene and reveal Piggy's hero status as, one moment he is standing up for himself and for all that is right and just and the next minute he is callously and almost incidentally removed from the picture. Piggy's significant death whilst holding the conch leaves Jack ecstatic that the conch no longer stands in his way. The very fact that he seems unaware of the real implications and that Piggy has just died having" twitched a bit, like a pig after it has been killed" reveals his brutality and his apparent belief that a human life holds no value above that of a pig.
It can also be said his death didn’t contribute to his heroism. Piggy’s death is very specific and detailed. It is however, also devoid of any emotion and is a sterile, technical and matter-of fact description. The impersonal nature of the text suggests that the reader should view Piggy's death as something ordinary, as an inescapable occurrence. Piggy had to die. Piggy does not die a hero, nor is he a metaphoric 'sacrificial lamb'. The descriptors effectively portray his death as an ordinary event, it is almost as if Piggy is objectified. Just as the conch is an object which, is Piggy, likewise, an object that, "fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea." A further inference which can be drawn from this prosaic description is that Piggy's death also symbolizes his rational and logical approach to things, free from emotion, and therefore, his death is unvarnished by any feeling: it is an unsentimental demise. Piggy represented the pragmatic resolution of issues, he proposed an adult perspective on the problems they experienced, and he pleaded for control and for rules. Therefore, when he dies, so does all reason and savagery comes into full bloom. It is therefore apt, in this sense that the conch, the symbol of discipline, ceases simultaneously with Piggy, who was the last one to have held it.
William Golding presents the idea that, while we may have our good traits, we are all essentially born evil, and it is due to the constraints of civilization that we don't act upon these evil inclinations. Hence, once the boys were removed from civilization by being stranded on an island, they progressed deeper and deeper into their evil natures, with some characters showing more evil characteristics than others. We can tell Golding is characterizing all the boys on the island as having an evil side because even the characters who are generally benevolent have their darker sides. For example, even the leader Ralph is portrayed as having a dark side in the very first chapter of the book when he mercilessly teases Piggy about his name. Piggy too shows his evil side when he, along with Ralph, becomes swept up in the savage dance with the other boys that leads to the murder of Simon. While Piggy's unwitting participation in the dance portrays the evil side of his human nature, it's Piggy's love of civilized law that portrays the good aspect of his nature that has been moulded by civilization. Piggy's glasses particularly symbolize civilization because, without the glasses, the boys have no way to make fire, which means no cooking, no heat, and no way to signal that they need rescuing. Piggy's love of civilized law is expressed throughout in the way he values the conch and the democracy it stands for.