Piggy Character Analysis

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Archetypical characters give readers an idea of the roles that certain people play in a story. The characterization of Jack, Ralph and Piggy strengthens the underlying archetypical characters in the novel. The three greater archetypical characters that are strengthened are the bully, the leader and the outcast characters. The archetypical character, the “bully”, is very strong in Golding’s novel, The Lord of the Flies. This archetypical character gives readers an idea of the most dominant role that society has. Jack is characterized as aggressive. In any story with a bully, there is almost always an aggressive personality. In chapter one, when Piggy is babbling on, Jack says “shut up fatty” (page 17) to Piggy. The fact that Jack makes…show more content…
When the younger boys talk in fear about the snake they saw, Jack says “there isn’t a snake thing and if there was a snake, we would hunt it and kill it”. (Page 35) This shows that Jack is preoccupied with hunting and exemplifies his desire for violence and brutality. Many bullies use violence and brutality to physically over power their victims. The ``bully`` archetypical character has a powerful role in the novel, mostly because of the characterization of Jack. The `` leader`` role is just as widely recognized as the ``bully`` role. The characterization of Ralph, leads readers to believe that Ralph is the leader because he is often times the one that is most willing to look out for others. . Ralph is characterized as very athletic. Early in chapter one, when William Golding is describing Ralph, he says ``You could see now that he might make a boxer, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil.`` (page 5) the author says he could make it as a boxer indicates that he is very physically strong. Society often picks leaders that have physically appealing looks. The fact that he says that there is a…show more content…
Early in chapter one, when William Golding is describing Piggy`s physical features, he says ``he was shorter than the fair boy and very fat...looked up through thick spectacles``. (Page 2) People are often judged by their physical looks and in this case, Piggy is being described negatively showing that he is not like the other boys. He is short, fat and wears glasses. Piggy is also characterized as intelligent. A little bit later in chapter one, William Golding describes Piggy. He says ``the fat boy waited to be asked his name in turn, but this proffer of acquaintances was not made. The fact that William said proffer of acquaintance, indicates that a good vocabulary is linked with Piggy, meaning that he is intelligent. In society, for some strange reason, smart people are not always accepted. Thirdly, Piggy is characterized as lazy or weak. When he is consulting with Ralph, he says ``we`ve got to find the others, we`ve got to do something. `` (page 10) the fact that Piggy says ``we``, suggests that he doesn`t want to do it himself, or that maybe he cannot physically do it himself. The archetypical character the ``outcast`` is not as widely recognized as the other characters, but it is still existent in the novel, with the help of the characterization of

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