Lord of the Flies

Page
1

Slide 1

Lord of the Flies

Peter and Andi

Slide 2

Question

Compare the ways in which Piggy and Simon attempt to prevent the boys from descending into savagery?

You should consider in your answer

Piggy’s intelligence and how the boy’s reject his suggestions

The debates over the rescue fires and shelters

The conflict between Jack and Piggy

Simons attempts to discover the truth about the beast

The deaths of Piggy and Simon

Slide 3

Piggy

Early encounters with Piggy set in our minds the type of character he is for the rest of the book

“I was the only boy in our school what had astha”

Endlessly talking of his auntie

His failed attempts at getting his point across

His strong opinions, and vast general knowledge

How Piggy reacts to the different situations he is placed in

Doesn’t join in when they all go to start a fire, he calls them “Kids”

Doesn’t retaliate violently to his glasses being stolen

“Clings” to the conch till the bitter end

Always tries to bring adult reasoning to the situations he is placed in

Slide 4

Simon

From the very beginning we can get a strong feeling for the type of character that he is.

He is kind natured , he helps the littluns get fruit (p51)

He has a powerful understanding of the fears which the boys are experiencing and appreciates that the fear is related to “mankind’s essential illness”

How Simon reacts to the different situations he is placed in

He willingly volunteers to help Piggy and Ralph to build the shelters

He is physically brave. He goes by himself up the mountain

He accompanies Jack and Ralph in their Expedition into the jungle and alone he tries to find the real source of the boys fears because he know that if they can deal with these fears then they may be able to survive

Slide 5

Their Likenesses

Both the boys are in many ways very stereotypical, Piggy is a fat smart boy with glasses, and Simon is intellectual yet “far away”.

Both have problems, Simon with his form of epilepsy and Piggy with his astha.

Both boys are much smarter than the others,

Piggy is good at practical solutions to their difficulties e.g. making shelters, keeping the rescue fire going, getting organised.

Simon is good at seeing the source of the boys fears and intuitively realises that if they can come to terms with their fears they can get on with each other, survive on the island and can perhaps get back.

Both boys are , to an extent, rejected by the others. Simon is called “Batty” while Piggy is called “fatty”. It does not seem strange that it is these two boys that are killed on the island.