Piggy's Leadership In Lord Of The Flies

Zach Lightman

Edward Stuart

David Tadevosyan

Mrs. Lanza

Global Studies

23 January 2023

Mahatma Gandhi ordained that “Happiness is when what you think, what you do, and what you say are in harmony.” Bringing this into consideration, such diversity is exemplified when people of different abilities operate conjointly. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies sufficiently demonstrates this, by displaying vast emotions and thoughts. Each character displayed a different trait throughout the novel. However, in the story, some lacked such personality traits and did not benefit the consortium of the boys’ survival. Critics deemed Golding’s novel to have characters of incomplete qualities, which forged a catastrophe on the island on which they were stranded

Piggy exemplifies the fact that being a leader does not require physical abilities or being a likable person, such as Ralph. In fact, Piggy acted as Ralph’s voice of reason and worked together whenever it was possible. Ralph’s leadership proved to be an extension of Piggy’s actions due to his accepting and embracing of Piggy’s ideas and recognizing the intellectual likenesses. In the text, he proposed a great number of ideas and even the smallest of decisions, all of which benefit the well-being of the boys on the island. “‘We got no fire on the mountain. But what’s wrong with a fire down here? A fire could be built on these rocks. On the sand, even. We’d make smoke just the same’” (Golding 129). Piggy suffers from asthma, fear of being uncivilized and mild astigmatism which is taunted by the boys, especially Jack. This is an obstacle that causes his true leadership abilities to be overlooked, and a major benefactor that monopolized him into getting involved to the same degree as Ralph. Even at the beginning of the novel, when Ralph suggested he take in the natural beauty of the island and swim at the small beach, Piggy insisted he does not on the account of his asthma. “‘I can’t swim. I wasn’t allowed. My asthma–’” (Golding