There are many symbols throughout Lord of the Flies, and Piggy is without a doubt one of the biggest symbols in the book. He represents civilization (when he has the conch shell) and logical thinking. When these two key elements are no longer present chaos ensues.
Piggy alone represents all logical thinking on the island, however everytime he speaks aloud, nobody pays attention to what he says. In one scenario Piggy tries to say something about making a small fire, but nobody acknowledges what he says. “‘I got the conch… I got a right to speak.’ They looked at him with eyes that lacked interest in what they saw…” (Golding 44). This also represents how the boys break away from thinking logically as the story goes on.
Near the end, Piggy has the conch shell and is confronted by Jack and his tribe. This time everyone surprisingly listens to what he has to say. “Which is better- law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?” (Golding 180). Soon after he speaks these words, the tribe is aggravated and launches a boulder at Piggy, killing him and destroying the conch shell in the process. At this point there is no civilization, order, or thinking involved. Everyone reverts to savagery and it is now every man for himself.
