Piggy Symbolism

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William Golding served in the Royal Navy during World War II that lasted from 1939-1945. Due to his traumatic experiences throughout the war, this created a combination of ideas involving the change of people because of the influence of power. Although, in his early stages of life Golding spent his childhood very sheltered. Likewise, his occupation during adulthood was an elementary English private school teacher. These ideas provide the assumption that Golding more than likely is inclined to think that children were innocent and had not seen the real world until he had joined the war. In addition to this idea, the events affected Golding vastly which influenced him to demonstrate some characteristics through the characters and events in Lord …show more content…

Although, Piggy was one of the only characters that remained true to himself and kept a sense of intelligence amongst the group. Piggy's characteristics vary dramatically compared to the others which caused them to bully him. The group used intimidating names such as "fat boy" and "fatty" when conversing about Piggy. Involving the idea of symbolism as it relates to the idea of Piggy, his glasses were very significant when explaining his important role in Lord of the Flies. The glasses represented an example of mental power amongst the group and their survival on the island. Throughout the tragic event, the glasses showed both knowledge and understanding in representing Piggy's true identity and his mental power over the group. Furthermore, when the boys decide to use Piggy's glasses to start the fire again this foreshadows the idea of intelligence by proving to Ralph that he contributed to building the fire. "His specs-use them as burning glasses!" (Golding 40). Similarly, this demonstrates the relationship of power and the glasses as the burning of the glasses will increase their chance of being rescued and a greater chance of survival (Al Najm). Many of the boys did not see the intelligence and overall power that the glasses represented as they were mostly obsessed with the idea of …show more content…

There are several different ideas and characteristics that both the Holocaust and characters in Lord of the Flies compare to such as their mental stableness and how it varies throughout the novel. Many Nazi had trouble hearing gunshots, bombings or enemies approaching because they were mentally unstable by the end of the war. This idea relates to the boys at the beginning of the novel. They all agreed upon a well-organized plan of action but when irrelevant ideas became more of a priority than survival everything began to crumble, along with the boy's sense of intelligence and diligence. Another similar characteristic between the two similar topics would be the desire for physical power. During World War II many large companies fought over power in smaller countries. An example of this would be England and Germany, they both for power amongst smaller countries to join their democracy. At the beginning of the novel, Golding shows the fight for power between Ralph and Jack on who will lead and more importantly have control over the conch. "Him with the shell." "Ralph! Ralph!" "Let him be chief with the trumpet-thing"(Golding 16). Towards the end of the novel, Jack gains a majority of the control over the group as he influences the group to hunt and how to maintain the beast. This also relates back to

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