Piggy's Glasses
Piggy’s Glasses
“There was pushing and pulling and officious cries. Ralph moved the lenses back and forth, this way and that, till a glossy white image of the declining sun lay on a piece of rotten wood. Almost at once a thin trickle of smoke rose up and made him cough. Jack knelt too and blew gently, so that the smoke drifted away, thickening, and a tiny flame appeared. The flame, nearly invisible at first in that bright sunlight, enveloped a small twig, grew, was enriched with color and reached up to a branch which exploded with a sharp crack. The flame flapped higher and the boys broke into a cheer.
"My specs!" howled Piggy. "Give me my specs!" (p.30)
“Now Piggy can't see, and they came, stealing--" Ralph's voice ran up "--at night, in darkness, and stole our fire. They stole it. We'd have given them fire if they'd asked. But they stole it and the signal's out and we can't ever be rescued. Don't you see what I mean? We'd have given them fire for themselves only they stole it. I--" (p.131)
ANALYSIS
Piggy himself is the representation of intelligence in the novel, so it is natural that Piggy's specs has some importance too. Actually, It was essential to make fires to call attention of ships that occasionally crossed the island's area. So, because of Piggy's glasses the fire could be made as the hope getting rescued. Piggy's glasses represent our technology. In the very beginning of the novel, Ralph and Jack were still in the same group, although they were foes inside, they still kept the appearance to keep things organized. However, along the story, things changed and Jack created a new group, which carried away most of the "littuns", but Piggy still was with Ralph, and everynight Jack sent someone to pick up fire to his group until the day he stole Piggy's glasses, which means that he stole Ralph last vestige of society, without Piggy's specs, he could not make fire and go to Jack's to ask for fire or unwittingly join Jack's tribe, and when they tried to get it back, Piggy dies with the last hope of been rescued, right after Ralph was hunted by Jack.
Piggy's Glasses
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