No matter how well people can put their differences aside, and work together to solve problems, they may not be able to escape tragedy. Piggy and Simon are two of the boys who find themselves stranded on an island with nobody to help them survive. They must figure everything out for their own sake and try to keep themselves and everyone else alive. The boys seem a lot alike at first but develop into different characters as the story moves forward. The boy’s personalities evolve throughout the story as they meet new people and seek new ideas on this island. Simon and Piggy show many similarities throughout the book. However, there are many differences between the two characters also. Their similarities and differences are important because they help by creating conflict through the plot.
Within the book, many of the other characters make fun of Piggy, but not many people even talk to or bother Simon. Other characters make fun of Piggy, especially at the beginning of the book. He is the one person that everyone has something to say to make him not feel good about himself. For example, at the beginning of the book, when Piggy is meeting Ralph he says, ‘“I don’t care what you call me, so long as it’s not what they used to call me in school… They used to call me Piggy”’ (Golding 11). At the beginning of the book, Piggy makes lots of references to everything his aunt used to say to him. This caused other characters to get annoyed with him and start to make fun of him all the time. They eventually realize that he actually can be helpful. Many of the boys in the book tease Piggy, but none of the characters in the book bother Simon. Usually, he is on his own, doing what he enjoys. In Chapter 5 he states, “I wanted- to go to a place…just a place I know. A place in the jungle” (Golding 85). This quote shows the reader that the other characters don’t care what Simon does. Mostly they just leave him alone and let him do whatever he wants as long as he is not disrupting other people. This shows how different the characters act and are treated by other characters in the book. People such as Ralph and Jack make fun of Piggy a lot, and they do not talk to Simon much unless he talks to them. However, characters do see Simon as a leader, even know he does not bother many people, he can get others to follow him if necessary. Piggy is known as a follower because he just wants to fit it, therefore he does what everyone else does.
In the story, the other characters look at Simon as a leader, and they look at Piggy as more of a follower. Many of Piggy’s actions are motivated by his desire to be accepted by the other boys. For example, Piggy was so full of pride in his contribution to the survival of the boys he helped to fetch wood (Golding 119). This shows that Piggy is more of a follower because he is trying to do everything he can to listen and help the other boys survive. He is working on being accepted by listening and helping out. Conversely, throughout the book, Simon is telling other characters how to survive. Many of them listen to him because they can trust him. According to the text, Simon says, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!” (Golding 152). The other characters listened to Simon when he said this because they know he wants to do what is best for all of them. They need to survive, so they are looking up to Simon to lead them. In the whole book, Piggy is wanting to fit in so he is following the other boys on the island. On the other hand, Simon is looked up to by the other characters, so he is a leader. While Piggy is known as a follower, and Simon is known as a leader, Piggy nor Simon enjoys being on the island.
Neither Piggy or Simon wants to be on the island. Piggy is not very excited about being alone on the island with no grown-ups. In chapter one, he is telling Ralph that everyone had died and he said, “Didn’t you hear what the pilot said? About the atom bomb? They’re all dead (Golding 14). Nobody knows that the boys are on the island and Piggy starts to tell Ralph how he is upset they may not ever get rescued. Piggy would likely do anything to get off the island and see his Auntie again. Similarly, during the assembly in Chapter 3, Simon suggests that the littluns’ fear of the island is valid, remembering the littlun with the mark on his face who died in the fire and spoke of a snake-like beastie. Simon seems to believe that the boys have a real fear, but that the thing they should fear is not a beastie, but the darkness within each of them. (Golding 54). Simon is trying to tell the other people on the island that all of them being alone and together all the time is not a positive experience. He is trying to scare the little boys into thinking an island is a bad place just like he thinks. Similar to Piggy, Simon is not enjoying being on the island. Both boys want to get off the island and do not enjoy trying to survive every day without groups. Even know both of them would like to be off of this stranded island. They are each putting in lots of work to help everyone stay alive.
In the book, both Simon and Piggy can be helpful by helping out the others in all areas when they are trying to survive on the island. Throughout the story, Piggy is helpful because they use his glasses to start the fire (Golding 40). Most of the book the other boys look at Piggy as useless, but during this time they found him to be very helpful. The boys used his glasses as a magnifying glass from the sun to start a fire, this would have been much more difficult without Piggys glasses to help. Then, Simon helped Piggy in chapter two by standing up for him. Piggy is regularly mocked by the others for his lack of physicality, however, Simon reminds the others that without Piggy’s glasses, there would be no fire and that not all contributions to society are purely physical. (Golding 42). This shows how helpful Simon is, not only by standing up for Piggy, but he was also helping build shelters to keep everyone safe. The two of them are helpful and assist others with an abundance of times throughout the book. Simon and Piggy both are getting accepted more as the book goes on because of their loyalty in trying to make sure everyone is healthy and surviving on the island. This shows another way that Simon and Piggy contrast. Both characters are similar and different in many ways.
The author creates conflict in the book by developing Simon and Piggy into very diverse characters, but their goals and helpful manners bring the two together to solve problems. The two boys are different characters, Simon is an introvert, and Piggy can be seen as an extrovert. Even know Simon keeps to himself a lot of people are known to follow him, this is the opposite for Piggy as the other boys in the story tend to ignore him, and not care what he has to say. On the other hand, both boys want to get off the island, but they work very hard together to help other boys to the best of their ability to stay alive. Even though two people can be so different, they worked together throughout the story, but neither of them could escape tragedy.
