Lord of the Flies Quotes

Piggy wore the remainders of a pair of shorts, his fat body was golden brown, and the glasses still flashed when he looked at anything. He was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow. The rest were shock-headed, but Piggy's hair lay in wisps over his head as though baldness were his natural state and this imperfect covering would soon go, like the velvet on a young stag's antlers.

"I've been thinking," he said, "about a clock. We could make a sundial. We could put a stick in the sand, and then—"

The effort to express the mathematical processes involved was too great. He made a few passes instead.

"And an airplane, and a TV set," said Ralph sourly, "and a steam engine."

Piggy shook his head.

"You have to have a lot of metal for that," he said, "and we haven't got no metal. But we got a stick."

Ralph turned and smiled involuntarily. Piggy was a bore; his fat, his ass-mar, and his matter-of-fact ideas were dull, but there was always a little pleasure to be got out of pulling his leg, even if one did it by accident.

Lord of the Flies, Chapter 4, pp. 53-54 (Penguin: New York)

Summary
The boys have been on the island for some time now, long enough for their hair to become long and their clothes to become tattered. They have adjusted somewhat to their new life of survival, yet there are many things left undone. Boredom is setting in, preventing them from continuing to build stable shelters and to provide adequately for the basic needs of a healthy society. Rudimentary huts provide some protection from the elements. Fruit and occasional seafood are the staples of their diet. The camp is divided into two main groups: food and fire. Jack and the hunters focus on being the providers, always hoping to catch a pig. Ralph and Piggy endeavor to keep the signal fire lit, the hope of rescue uppermost in their minds.

Piggy is noted as being the only one whose hair has not grown. He remains the same as when the boys first arrived on the island. Although his clothes are in tatters and he has lost the pallor of the sheltered British school boy, his appearance has not drastically altered, as opposed to the other boys.

Piggy, seemingly affected by the same apathy that has infected so many of the boys, appears to be “mooning about,” examining objects, tossing them away. In reality he is, as always, thinking—thinking of ways in which he can make their environment more civilized.

As Ralph comes to join him, Piggy announces that he has been thinking of making a sundial, which would allow them to keep track of the passage of time throughout the day. He has difficulty explaining the process to Ralph, who is unable to understand the workings of Piggy’s mind in such a scientific project.

Indeed, Ralph is contemptuous of the idea. He suggests making an airplane or a television, perhaps even a steam engine. Piggy misses, or...