Reason And Intelligence In William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Unrecognized: not credited for knowledge or actions, not acknowledged. Society does not always recognize intelligence. The general public only know the names of celebrities, like Justin Bieber or Kim Kardashian. Humanity doesn’t even know the names of people who build rockets and design safer cars. In this story, a plane of boarding school boys crash on a remote island and are put to the test of survival. Within William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a variety of symbols show how society fails to recognize the importance of reason and logic.

One way this is shown is how Piggy is symbolic to logic and intelligence, but he is taken for granted. This is because he is divergent so they exclude him. Even though Piggy is the smartest one in the group

One way this is shown is how humanity regards glasses as a sign of intelligence. People who are smart are seen as people wearing glasses and read lots of books. Since Piggy is smart and wears glasses, the glasses are significant to logic and reason. Another way Piggy’s glasses represent reason and logic is when one side of the glasses breaks, part of the reason and logic is lost. Piggy says to Jack, “I got to have them specs. Now I only got one eye. Jus’ you wait-”(72). After that, the others become more rampageous and tumultuous. The last way is that the savages, such as Jack and Roger, steal the glasses for their own use. “He was a chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear. From his left hand dangled Piggy’s broken glasses.”(168). They use his glasses without his consent just like humanity uses intellect without crediting who discovered it. These ways show that bright mentality is often devalued and taken advantage

One reason is that he is logical about the tribe’s actions. He isolates himself from the group because he knows what they are doing to each other is wrong. He doesn’t want to become tyrannical and merciless like the others when they reenact the pig hunt and almost kill Roger. The second reason is that he is reasonable with his own thoughts. He knows that the other’s are the beast and that deep down inside there is a beast in him. In fact, the “beast” says to him, “You knew, didn’t you? I’m apart of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”(143). The final reason is that he is analytical about what the others saw on the mountain. He goes to inspect what they saw before assuming it was the beast. He sees that the “beast” was nothing else but a dead parachutist and goes to tell the others, but they kill him because they thought he was the beast (146). Simon is perceptive about common sense rather than knowledge like Piggy.

In conclusion, Golding’s Lord of the Flies, symbols show how society doesn’t appreciate reason and logic. Piggy, Simon and Piggy’s glasses are taken for granted by all the others. When Simon and Piggy die all logic and reason disappears and the island turns chaotic. Piggy’s glasses are taken and used for the wrong purposes. This relates to society because intelligent people are not recognized and are