Lonely island castaways show the wanderings of the isolated mind, while groups of stranded people reveal the true workings of society. The allegorical novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding tells the story of a group of schoolboys stranded on an island after their plane crashes. Their democracy, created by the leader Ralph and the intelligent Piggy, slowly descends into fear and chaos that turns the boys against one another and drives them to murder. Throughout the book, the outsiders Piggy and Simon are mocked, with Piggy receiving the brunt of the boys’ cruelty, and then eventually killed. This chain of events demonstrates Golding’s belief that society is more inclined to prize appealing people (be it attractive or daring) than logical …show more content…
When the boys are beginning to explore the island, the group goes charging up the mountain. Piggy disagrees with this, but follows them anyway: “Then, with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of children…” (38). In this instance, Piggy decides to act this way on his own accord, displaying his responsible nature. A society needs to have someone with their best interests in mind, even it is not popular. Although Piggy is not appointed the leader, and never is, his influence is present from the very beginning. Later in the book, the tribe of boys go on a hunt for the beast, but they can’t bring the littluns. Ralph, the chief, decides that Piggy should stay with them: “‘Someone’s got to look after them.’ ‘Nobody has so far.’ ‘There was no need! Now there is. Piggy’ll look after them’” (101). While Ralph still gives an excuse for this decision, it seems a natural decision to designate Piggy as the caretaker for the younger children. The older boys recognize that Piggy is the most capable boy, but they also don’t want him around. They see staying behind with the littluns as an undesirable job- it isn’t dangerous or very “manly”- so they assign it to Piggy because they see him as inferior and unworthy of joining them. This signifies that people are predisposed to punish those that are different from them, even if the manner in which it is done is