Sometimes you read something that just strikes you to the heart with meaning, and likely, the writer’s skill.
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 still 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. (pg. 64)
The simile of Piggy’s scarce hair to the velvet of antlers that sheds to reveal a sign of transitioning into a signal of male strength is a hint at Piggy’s own mental capabilities and dormant dominance. Something he himself is not even aware of, though he knows he is intelligent, he, typical of the teased and tormented, is more anxious to be liked by the others than to be a force in their lives. Even as he suggests to Ralph that he can build a sundial with a stick, he is unaware of Ralph’s teasing response, “And an airplane, and a TV set.” He remarks instead that for those, they would need metal. It is clear that he is so in need of acceptance, that he doesn’t identify immediately with sarcasm directed his way.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology