Piggy's death suggests that intellectualism is vulnerable to brutality. While Simon's death can be viewed as an accident or an escalation of mob mentality, Piggy's murder is the most intentional and inevitable on the island, and the moment when the group's last tie to civilization and humanity is severed.
Piggy's death is also murder, his death being the result of an intentional act, unlike Simon's, which makes clear to the reader that innocence is gone.
Piggy and Jack go to Jack's camp to get Piggy's glasses back. When Jack and Ralph fight, Roger up the hill dislodges a boulder that falls and hits Piggy and knocks him over the cliff to his death.
“Roger leaned all of his weight on the lever. He did not call out to warn Piggy when the boulder fell. Roger is fully responsible for the actions leading up to the death of Piggy. He had a thirst for blood,” says Ralph.
The boys had a clear motive for the young boy to be killed and it could not be mistaken for an accident, because the intentions were clear. If Roger had not planned for Piggy to be killed, it would have been an accident, but he had every intention for Piggy to …show more content…
Lord of the Flies (10/11) Movie CLIP - Piggy is Killed (1990) HD
Why is Piggy's death important?
As heart-breaking as Piggy's violent death is in Lord of the Flies, Golding uses the moment symbolically to represent an end to civilization and order on the island.
From his point of view on top of Castle Rock, "Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat" — not other human beings. Mentally dehumanizing those not in his group frees Roger from the restraints of decency, an effect he feels as "a sense of delirious abandonment" when he releases the rock to kill Piggy.
Roger, the character least able to understand the civilizing impulse, crushes the conch shell as he looses the boulder and kills Piggy, the character least able to understand the savage impulse.
The irony in this event is that Jack cannot hurt a pig while hunting but is later able to kill Piggy with no regrets. The event confirms his transformation into a heartless killer. As the boys establish rules and make plans, Ralph suggests that a signal fire on the island's summit would help them be rescued.
Piggy tells Ralph that if Ralph were not around, Jack would hurt Piggy. This event hints at the growing tension and violence on the island, as well as foreshadows Piggy's vulnerability and eventual demise. It suggests that without Ralph's protection, Piggy would become a target for Jack and the other boys.
Later, Jack punches Piggy which cause the glasses to fall, smashing one side. Piggy is now half-blind, a foreshadowing of later events in the book when Jack's tribe steal the spectacles, leaving Piggy completely blind and vulnerable.
Roger sends a rock topping over the cliffs and onto Piggy, which kills Piggy and destroys the conch. Jack is not remorseful. Instead, he is further excited, and he says that he "meant that," and he tells Ralph that he no longer has a tribe.
1> Symbolism: Simon represents the epitome of goodness, kindness, and insight in the novel. His death symbolizes the loss of innocence and the triumph of savagery over civilization.
At the end of Lord of the Flies, most of the boys survive. A littlun goes missing after the group builds a fire that gets out of control, and can be assumed to be dead. Simon gets killed by the group after they mistake him for the beast. Finally, Piggy dies when one of the boys in Jack's tribe throws a boulder on him.
While Piggy admonishes the boys for becoming savages, Roger releases a huge boulder in Piggy's direction, knocking him off the cliff to his death on the rocks below. A large wave quickly carries off his body. Jack screams in victory at Ralph and then throws his spear at him.
At the feast, the boys are laughing and eating the roasted pig. Jack sits like a king on a throne, his face painted like a savage, languidly issuing commands, and waited on by boys acting as his servants. After the large meal, Jack extends an invitation to all of Ralph's followers to join his tribe.
This story never happened. An English schoolmaster, William Golding, made up this story in 1951 – his novel Lord of the Flies would sell tens of millions of copies, be translated into more than 30 languages and hailed as one of the classics of the 20th century. In hindsight, the secret to the book's success is clear.
Once Ralph tells him that a ship could have seen the smoke had Jack not abandoned the fire, Jack feels attacked and insecure, causing him to attack Piggy physically.
Speaking about his savagery, Roger kills Piggy with a huge boulder, which not only kills Piggy but destroys the conch into smithereens. Savagery has overtaken Roger, and his murder of Piggy symbolizes savagery and the destruction of their civilization.
Piggy's real name is never revealed. Instead he is treated as though he is one of the pigs on the island - also like one of them, he is brutally killed. Piggy remains an outsider and a victim throughout the novel, though Ralph does come to respect him.
After Piggy's death and the complete unleashing of Roger's sadism, Ralph flees into a covert in the jungle and hides. He is now far from Castle Rock, but Ralph perceives that he is save as the others are occupied with a feast.
Ralph's motivation throughout the book is to maintain order and civility, and to keep a signal fire lit in hopes of being rescued, but he is regularly thwarted by the antagonist Jack and the potential for evil inherent in mankind.
