Piggy's Allegory

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding depicts rationality and a civilized state through allegory in order to reveal that society's rules can suppress one's intellect through taunting. An allegory tends to portray double meanings to give a better understanding of a bigger picture, traditionally targeting societal concerns such as politics or social issues. Society thrives on power through authoritative reign, when presented the opportunity to control the one seen as the leader administers. People tend to feel threatened easily by traits that are not applicable to them, if the majority cannot simply access this particular characteristic, then it is not sufficient to them as a whole --- it does not suffice. In retrospect, it makes the majority feel as if they are less than and insecure, which is an ironic concept because at the same time, the “leader” (or the one with the most dominant qualities) initiates their power through fear and self-doubt by thriving on their subordinates’
In this specific story, Piggy has the trait that the majority lacks. Through the prior interpretation given in the beginning, one could infer that the rest of the group feels jealous of their vacuous mind in comparison to Piggy’s, which is why they ridicule him. Society’s rules can suppress one’s intellect through taunting, “I don’t care what they call me...so long as they don’t call me what they used to call me at school” (Golding, 11) , this informs the readers that Piggy’s past history included bullying which demonstrates the initial concept of jealousy based off of insecurity. Society determined Piggy different based off of societal standards due to Piggy looking corpulent, having asthma, having poor eyesight, and having intellect. However, some of the “negative” qualities that make Piggy different are the same qualities that make Piggy superior through rational