The Biguns In Lord Of The Flies

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, it is evident that people act differently when put in certain situations. For example, when good people are put in a bad environment, they blur moral lines justifying the “greater good”. This can be observed through the actions of most of the boys, who misuse their power and treat people such as Piggy, Simon, and the littluns unfairly. A large portion of the biguns mistreat Piggy, Simon, and the littluns.

Throughout the novel, Piggy is constantly mistreated by the biguns. Piggy is an easy target, so they treat him poorly without thinking about how it may negatively affect him. One example is the first time the boys light the fire, they use Piggy’s specs without asking him for permission. “‘His specs –

use them as burning glasses!’ Piggy was surrounded before he could back away.” (Golding 40). Piggy cannot see without his glasses but despite that, Jack still grabs the glasses off of Piggy’s face without his approval. Piggy repeatedly demands for his glasses back, but they ignore him and go about lighting the fire. Although the intentions surrounding this act of theft were for the benefit of the whole group, they still treat Piggy as though his feelings do not matter nor do they let him have a say in any decisions. Later in the novel, Jack and his tribe steal Piggy’s glasses again to light a fire. Piggy is blind without his glasses – illustrating his weakness, all the while showcasing Jack’s assertion of power. The first example of physical violence on the island is when Jack “stuck his fist into Piggy’s stomach.” (Golding 75). This confirms that no matter what Piggy does, Jack always belittles him. Jack takes this a step too far by also breaking Piggy’s glasses and leaving him with only one clear lens. Piggy repeats exactly what Ralph says to Jack about letting the fire go out, but Jack only punches Piggy. Due to his admiration for Ralph – Jack’s supposed ‘enemy’ – Piggy is detested by Jack. Instead of confronting his enemy Ralph, physically, Jack takes out all his anger on Piggy clearly because of an apparent gap between Ralph and Piggy’s levels of physical strength. This is an act of bullying and it shows Jack’s true nature of violence and how he abuses his power on characters he feels inferior to him. After the hunters hunt their first piglet, they celebrate by chanting and eating its meat altogether. When Jack gives each person a piece, he skips Piggy because he “had meant to leave him in doubt, as an assertion of power.” (Golding 78). After Jack does this, Simon offers Piggy his meat making Jack furious. Although Jack says that he will not provide Piggy with meat since he did not hunt, he offers Ralph and Simon a share, who did not hunt either. The real reason behind Jack’s abuse of Piggy is because he wants to punish him for the fight they had earlier, and to show Piggy that he will never be able to outsmart him. As stated in the quote, Jack also does this to show Piggy that he is better than him and that he does not fear him. It is also another example of Jack asserting power over Piggy. Another reason he does this is to show the boys that just as he provided them with meat, he can also take it away. Jack uses Piggy as an example – again, because he views Piggy as the weakest link. Clearly, Jack believes he is superior to Piggy and harasses him. Piggy is mistreated by one of the biguns, Jack.
Simon is known as the figure with a vast imagination but does not say much.

However, when he does speak, it is often incredibly important to the event taking place. The first thing Simon does when he meets Ralph and Piggy is faint and that is when Jack Merridew says, “‘He’s always throwing a faint’” (Golding 16). Jack does not attempt to help Simon due to the fact that he has seen it several times, causing his lack of care towards the situation. Now that the boys are on the island with no adults, Jack feels like he can rule over them and do whatever he wishes. All of the boys are following their leader’s – Jack’s – footsteps and they too do not assist Simon when he faints. During another instance, when the boys are having an assembly to discuss the beast, Simon says that “‘maybe it’s only us.’” (Golding 96). This irritates the boys greatly because Simon never speaks, but when he finally does, it is quite foolish in their opinion. Piggy also yells insults at Simon. This is an injustice because they do not grant Simon the chance to explain and instead they choose to ignore his sentiments. This also plays on the theme of inequality within the group because each boy has their own opinion, however due to Simon’s lack of popularity within the group, he is afforded less a right to speak than the more popular, Jack. The group only views Simon for his outward appearance and not his inner-self. Simon is viewed to be weak by the boys because he faints frequently, a symptom of his

epilepsy. However, he is truly intelligent and it is later confirmed in the novel that what Simon says, is true. By the end of the novel, the boys have turned into savages, which has caused them to be blinded by all their actions. In the final reenactment of the killing of the piglet, the boys are so keen on the dance that when Simon crawls into the center, they mistake him for the beast and kill him. “Simon’s dead body moved towards the open sea” (Golding 170). Evidently, an injustice because the boys are so blinded by their actions that they kill Simon, the most innocent person on the island. The boys would have also done this if it were anyone else because by this point they have now lost all sight of themselves. However, if the victim were someone Jack cared about, such as Roger, punishment would have been seen as a repercussion. Ralph is the only one who wants to talk about what happens, but even Sam and Eric lie and say that they left early and Piggy comes up with five excuses, one of which he blames Simon for his own death. Simon is treated unfairly by almost all the biguns.
The littluns play a minor role in the Lord of the Flies.

The littluns are just starting to learn how to live on the island and are beginning to forget their former ways. They built castles and decorated them tirelessly, but Roger, abusing his power, “led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over … Maurice followed, laughing, and added to the destruction.” (Golding 62). This magnifies the inequality spread throughout the island. The littluns have not done anything to Roger nor Maurice, yet they feel superior to them and feel as though they can do anything because there are no adults present, meaning there are no consequences. This is an injustice because it is a form of bullying and the littluns have put an exceeding amount of effort in their castles to make them appealing. Although Maurice immediately feels guilty about what he has done, he makes an excuse right away and heads off to the beach. Golding states that the littluns keep on playing with their sand castles, this proves that violence has become a natural occurrence on the island. In chapter 5, Ralph calls an assembly to talk about the beast, and to comfort the littluns by letting them know that there is nothing to be afraid of. Jack, on the other hand, accuses them for not helping, building, or hunting – stating that they are “a lot of cry babies and sissies” (Golding 88). This alone shows how Ralph is a better leader than Jack when it comes to helping and respecting the littluns. Ralph listens to

their troubles and attempts to be of assistance to them while Jack does absolutely nothing and just scares them even more. The littluns do not understand the events that happen on the island, all they want is to be assured there is no beast and to go back home. Jack does not listen to their problems and all he does is make them feel terrible about themselves. However, his job as a bigun is to be a caretaker to the littluns and as a leader he should not yell at his followers. This is seen as unfairness because Jack does not understand that they are children and they have the right to be afraid of the beast. During the second mock killing, the boys are dancing, chanting, and poking at Robert with their spears that they eventually begin hurting him. Robert quickly drags himself out of the game and suggests that they use a real pig next time, but Jack says they should “‘Use a littlun’… and everybody laughed” (Golding 126), The fact that they laugh about what Jack says is more chilling than them actually doing that because it shows their descent into savagery. Jack does not mind sacrificing one of his own followers just for pleasure. Using one of the littluns is an injustice because Jack abuses the fact that they still have not matured and that they do not understand what is happening on the island. The biguns abuse the littluns’ intellect.
In conclusion, biguns such as Jack, Roger, and Maurice misuse their power and treat people such as Piggy, Simon, and the littluns unfairly. Piggy’s glasses are stolen numerous times, he is punched by Jack, and is not given an equal share of the meat hunted. Simon is not cared for or listened to and he ends up being killed by the group. The littluns are not listened to by Jack, their sand castles are ruined by Roger and Maurice, and their lack of maturity is abused by the biguns. A great quantity of the biguns mistreat Piggy, Simon, and the littluns.