Lord Of The Flies

In William Golding's Lord of the Flies there is a character named Piggy who is real fat and has 'as-mar'. He is a symbol of reality and intelligence on the island because he is the backbone of the island, he is a man of ideas, he thinks logically and rationally, and is well organized.

In the book, Golding uses Piggy to show that he is the backbone of the island. He does this by inferring that Ralph relies on him for leadership. A good example of this would be: "we musn't let anything happen to Piggy, must we?"(106) If the reader really gets to analyze the novel they can see that without Piggy, Ralph would become a savage just like Jack or Maurice. Another example would be: "Them kids. The little 'uns. who took any notice of 'em? Who knows how many we got?"(42). This shows that Piggy pays attention to littluns and actually cares for them almost like a grownup. When the boy with the mulberry birthmark dies in the fire, Piggy is hurt and feels responsible for the boy's suffering. "You said you wanted a small fire and you been and built a pile like a hayrick."(40). When Piggy declares this he is showing how much the boys need order on the island and not just mass confusion. He is also stating that the biguns need to take responsibility and keep a small closely watched signal fire, not a colossal burning inferno of a fire. Without Piggy's presence and help on the island nothing would get done and all the boys would be forgotten savages.

Piggy is also a 'man of ideas.' He 0was the first to realize the potential of the conch, the first to get names, become a leader, and think of a smoke signal. With Piggy getting the littlun's names, he is showing the reader that he wants order on the island like in the adult world's society. By posing the question "what's yer name"(17) the reader is able to assume that he wants to take part in a leadership role on the island and does not want to just "sit around". Piggy is also a reliable leader and has quite exceptional organizational skills in the "real" world, yet he is not strong socially. Piggy is showing his skills when he states "You're hindering Ralph. You're not letting him get to the most important thing."(131) In these few words Golding is showing yet again how Piggy is a help to Ralph and as much a leader as anyone. The idea of using a smoke signal for rescue in the novel is Piggy's idea. When Jack's group goes hunting and lets the fire go out Piggy gets extremely frustrated at the fact that they could have gone home and did not. When Piggy says, "You and your hunting! we might have gone home - "(64) the audience realizes that Piggy and the others need to be rescued, and without the signal fire they can not accomplish this task. Without Piggy's ingenious intellect the boys would not have been rescued from the island.

Piggy is an excellent logical thinker. He realizes the boys' needs and wants on the island, is able to understand what the other boys can not, he is able to see what the consequences of his actions