Note that when the sow’s head speaks to Simon, it takes on a male voice, becoming the Lord of the Flies. Interestingly, Piggy and the Lord of the Flies both give the same answer to the same question, although they each phrase it slightly differently. Ralph asks Piggy “what makes things break up like they do?” and receives the reply “I dunno. I expect it’s him . . . Jack.” Meanwhile Simon hears the staked head tell him, “You knew, didn’t you? . . . I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” The Lord of the Flies, a literal translation of the Greek word Beelzebub, symbolizes evil, and Jack is evil personified. Piggy’s assessment of the problem is actually much tamer in intent, based not on a consideration of evil but what he terms a lack of common sense (reason).
True to Piggy’s assertion that “It’s them that haven’t no common sense that make trouble on this island,” Jack doesn’t seem to have much common sense. He dictates to his hunters that they forget the beast and stop having nightmares, as if either mental process could be controlled on command. Piggy has a more rational solution to their situation, one that actually requires more courage on the boys’ part than Jack’s foolishly unrealistic demands. “We just got to go on, that’s all. That’s what grownups would do.” Ralph wishes he could think more like a grownup, impressed with Piggy’s astuteness in noting that Samneric need to take separate shifts in tending the fire rather than taking their turn together. Piggy and Ralph rely on adult behavior as a model because they still maintain the image of grownups as eminently capable and reasonable. They equate adulthood with knowledge and higher understanding.
