" (p. 47) Piggy's specs represent a deeper meaning than just the obvious uses listed in the novel. They symbolize logic and reason, and this easily shown by Piggy's constant action of cleaning his glasses. He repeatedly does this is and it is usually before any very intellectual thinking. .
"Piggy sat down carefully on the sand and began to polish his glass.
"We could experiment. We could find out how to make a small hot fire and then put green branches on to make smoke. Some of them must be better than others." " (p. 143).
He always desires the need for clear-sightedness and despite the fact that Jack broke one of his lenses, it doesn't prevent him from seeing the savagery that the boys are slowly resorting to more and more everyday spent on the island. Hence, because of Piggy's glasses, which symbolically represent logic and reason, they provide an essential element of fire that gives them heat, cooking, and a rescue signal.
This novel would not function very well at all without Piggy because if it wasn't for his intellect, no society would have been established, no comparison between savagery and civilization would have been presented, and Ralph would be incompetent of being chief. Golding needed a slow downfall of well-mannered boys to show the destruction of human nature and Piggy helps this factor out greatly. First Golding needed to establish a sound society and Piggy, not being too enthusiastic towards physical activity, it was only his nature to try to establish a civilization on the island. Piggy says to Ralph, "We can use this [conch] to call the others. Have a meeting. They"ll come when they hear us-." (p. 11) Golding chooses to separate Piggy from the rest of the boys through intellect because he is a symbol of law and order, which he displays a good comparison of savagery to civilization. .
" "I've been thinking," he [Piggy] said, "about a clock. We could make a sundial. We could put a stick in the sand, and then-" The effort was lost to express the mathematical processes involved was too great.