Piggy's Symbols

Lord of the Flies Military theorist Carl von Clausewitz once said: “Savage peoples are ruled by passion, civilized peoples by the mind. The difference lies not in the respective natures of savagery and civilization, but in the attendant circumstances, institutions, and so forth... even the most civilized peoples… can be fired with passionate hatred for each other.” In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the boys on the island slowly lose sight of their humanity, becoming more and more savage as the days progress. William Golding illustrates the darker side of mankind and shows how quickly man can turn evil when left to his own devices. Within days of being on the island the
It symbolizes intellect, hope, and civilization in society. The spectacles are used to start the fire for the rescue signal; “his specs – use them as burning glasses… Ralph moved the lenses back and forth… almost at once a thin trickle of smoke rose up and made him cough” (Golding 40-41). The signal fire was the group’s main focus before they went haywire. As the novel progresses, Piggy’s glasses become more and more damaged, which illustrates how the boys begin to slowly become corrupt; “Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rock. Piggy cried out in terror: ‘My specs!’” (Golding 71). At the end of chapter 10, Jack and his group invade Ralph’s group back on the beach and steal Piggy’s spectacles, taking away the only intellect and hope from the only civilized group on the island; “from his left hand dangled Piggy’s broken glasses” (Golding 168). By emphasizing Piggy’s broken glasses in Jack’s hand, Golding showed that savagery finally overpowered
In the beginning, while the boys were still civilized, their main worry was to keep the fire going. Ralph in particular was always focused on getting the attention of a passing ship; “We’ve got to have special people for looking after the fire. Any day there may be a ship out there... and if we have a signal going they’ll come and take us off” (Golding 42). After a while, Ralph starts to forget the purpose of the fire, and he has to be reminded why it is so important; “Ralph tried indignantly to remember. There was something good about a fire. Something overwhelmingly good... ‘How else are going to be rescued?’” (Golding 163). This shows that Ralph, the most civil person on the island, is also losing himself in savagery. Eventually the boys do end up getting rescued by the fire, however not by the signal fire, but by the wildfire that Jack and his group started while they were going after Ralph; “Behind him, the whole island was shuddering with flame... his voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island” (Golding 201-202). The final fire exemplifies that savagery literally took over and burned down the island. Although they were saved, they’ll never be the same