This is the moment where Golding truly drives home his point that darkness exists at the very core of mankind. Piggy’s glasses are symbolic of progress and technology, and Piggy himself represents the human ability to harness that and to be progressive, so when he is killed, it is a sign that the boys have fully regressed. While Ralph is displayed as a democratic leader throughout the text, Piggy is the brains of the operation. Piggy’s death really symbolizes the end of any reason. Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy. For instance, two rival schools clashed in the UK, and several students were badly injured or died due to the fray. And while I personally do not hold with Golding’s wider message, there are certainly examples in the real world where peer pressure has led to frenzies like the one described here. In my opinion, this is one of the most unnerving parts of the novel, as it really helped to portray a frenzy. When the children start chanting this, it becomes quite jarring, almost scary. The desire to rid the island of femininity seems to be a powerful concept. This is particularly interesting as there are no female characters in the novel, so the sow is the only representation of femininity. This is a chant that the boys use to role-play killing the pig. Given England’s history of acting savagely towards nations that they deemed to be less advanced and even savage, particularly during their colonial days making this quote is even more powerfully ironic in the current climate. What is particularly provocative about this line is that it is uttered by Jack, who later in the book encourages the boys to abandon the rules that they have in place. We’re English, and the English are best at everything. This line is one of the first suggestions that the beast is not a physical entity but rather the manifestation of the evil that exists within men. This line is taken from a section of the book where the boys are debating whether or not there is a beast and speculating on what it might be. There isn’t no beast – not with claws and all that.
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