Piggy

Piggy is a main character in The Lord of the Flies. He is rather overweight and has asthma, of which he is especially proud of due to no one else in his school having it. The reader is introduced to Piggy in the first piece of dialogue in the first chapter, “ ‘a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was followed by another. ‘Hi!’ it said. ‘Wait a minute!’”(Golding 5). Piggy is the only character in the book that brings forth a female’s voice by constantly quoting and referencing his aunt. Him being the only one bringing a female voice to the story could be a metaphor for the male dominated world that they live in and still exists today. Not only that, but the fact that Piggy has many health issues, shows even further how it was difficult for a woman to get her word in during that time period. Whenever he quotes his aunt, none of the boys really seem to care and they shoot him down, not even listening to his words, “‘I didn’t expect nothing. My auntie-’ ‘‘Sucks to your auntie!’”(Golding 11). Piggy gets pushed aside by Ralph, the first boy he met on the island, when Ralph tells everyone his name is Piggy. Though Piggy never really did tell Ralph his real name, he still told Ralph not to tell the other kids his nickname of Piggy, and Ralph betrayed him when he did. Piggy is an example of a minority at the time the book is based in.