Taken For Granted

Jonathan Rodebaugh

Ms. Pahomov

English II

5/25/18

Taken For Granted

Everybody at some point has had something valuable but completely taken that thing for granted. People take up all the benefits with barely noticing its existence whether it is a family member or even just an object. When there is a lack of appreciation toward something or someone, it leaves a huge impact when that thing is gone. They don’t know how to react, and they feel the heavy consequences. This is a common theme in William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Piggy is a big part in helping the school boys, but he is just pushed aside and his help comes unappreciated. People don’t appreciate what resources, and gifts they have until it's gone.

Lord of The Flies is about school boys that got stranded on an island after a plane crashed on a seemingly abandoned island. They are making a fire for the first time in hopes of being found by anyone who sees the smoke. Piggy tries to contribute to help the boys, but gets shut down, "We couldn't keep a fire like that going, not if we tried.’’A fat lot you tried,’ said Jack contemptuously. ‘You just sat.’ ‘I got the conch,’ said Piggy indignantly. ‘You let me speak!’ ‘The conch doesn't count on top of the mountain,’ said Jack, ‘so you shut up.’I got the conch in my hand.’’ Jack turned fiercely. ‘You shut up!’"(Golding, 42). This quote shows that because of Piggy’s look and their standards of a leader, which was based on Piggy being unpopular and overweight. Because of this, they do not want to listen to him even though he gives sensible advice. The boys even ignored their own laws of the conch just to ignore what Piggy has to say. To the boys, it doesn't matter if what Piggy says is useful or intelligent. They just looked at his looks and popularity and jump to conclusions off of that very little bit of information.


Comparatively, the previous example from Lord of The Flies relates to the Minnesota Vikings 2017 NFL season. The Vikings lost their starting quarterback, Sam Bradford, in 2017 due to injury. They were then forced to have Keenum a mediocre player be quarterback instead, and their season seemed to fall apart. The Christian D’Andre from sbnation.com said, “Last year, Keenum was a top 10 quarterback who recorded a 98.3 passer rating... his Vikings went 12-3 in games where he was the team’s primary passer...” This quote shows how amazing Keenum was that season. The Vikings had what seemed to be a stellar quarterback, the Vikings were reaping the benefits of Keenum’s success. They however, were not convinced that Keenum was the answer. During the season, the Vikings head coach, Mike Zimmer, said, “Is he the guy that played for the Rams or is he the guy that played for us?” This is referring to when Keenum played for the Rams and did not play well. It seemed like the team obviously had someone that made them an elite team. The Vikings seemed to take him for granted and not appreciate his huge contribution. In this statement they were just looking at the fact that Keenum’s football history was as a backup to other teams. Based off of this they assumed he would not be capable to lead a football franchise, even though he was having so much success in that season. Comparing this to the previous example of Piggy, Keenum and Piggy had amazing contribution to their team or group, however even though their impact was seen they were not nearly as respected as they should have been. Keenum’s coach said he was unreliable, and Piggy was treated very poorly by the leaders in his group of boys. These are both examples of people just ignoring the talent that is in front of them.

At the end of the novel, Ralph is reflecting and is mourning the death of Piggy, even though he treated him so poorly in the past. “Ralph pushed back his tangled hair and wiped the sweat out of his best eye. He spoke aloud. ‘Think.’ What was the sensible thing to do? There was no Piggy to talk sense.” (Golding, 196) Ralph recently witnessed Piggy’s death, and this took a big toll on Ralph. Throughout the book, present was the constant mistreatment and bullying of Piggy. Now, Ralph is learning the hard way to appreciate how much Piggy contributed and helped the group. He was crying for Piggy and realizing how much he loss. He took Piggy’s intelligence for granted, and is now regretting it. This was a moment that Ralph was in where he really needed wisdom, and Piggy was not there. All the other times Piggy was sharing his thoughts he was shut up. The irony is really a big blow to Ralph who was regretting his decisions.

Relating back to the Keenum example, the Vikings did not resign Keenum and let him leave. They signed Kirk Cousins, who they thought would make the team better. Mark Maske of the Washington Post talked about the effects of Keenum leaving, “The Vikings, after reaching last season’s NFC title game with Case Keenum at quarterback, signed Cousins to be the final piece of a Super Bowl puzzle. Instead, they’re 6-6-1 after Monday night’s defeat. That’s the very definition of mediocrity.” This article talks about how good the Vikings were with Keenum and how they weren’t great with Cousins. It was shown how much the Vikings didn’t really appreciate Keenum and they were sure that the new guy they brought in would be the answer. They, in a way, were punished for not trusting Keenum because he was known as being a mediocre back up. Looking back at the Piggy example this is similar because Piggy and Keenum were both not shown the respect that they deserved, and their group or team felt the negative impact when they were gone.

People being taken for granted is a common theme in Lord of The Flies and with Case Keenum, This was seen at the end of the book with Ralph not having Piggy, and the Vikings without Case Keenum. t is also very common in real life. In the real life example, it could be an impactful player that leaves and it hurts your team. It can also be a very good friend that you don’t realize how much they mean to you until they leave. This is an issue that has impacted every single person at sometime, and it can be scary. If there is something that is relied on heavily that you barely noticed, if it is gone destruction is bound to happen. All people have this as a tendency it is a part of how humans are and the way they behave.
















Works Cited



D'Andrea, Christian. The Broncos Are Getting the Worst Version of Case Keenum. SBNation.com, 2 Oct. 2018, www.sbnation.com/nfl/2018/10/2/17927820/denver-broncos-case-keenum-struggling-contract-welp.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005322646911&fref=ts. “Analysis | The Vikings’ Signing of Kirk Cousins Seemed like Such a Good Idea at the Time.” Washington Post, The Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2018/12/11/vikings-signing-kirk-cousins-seemed-like-such-good-idea-time/.

Jr., Harry Lyles. 2018 NFL Free Agency: Mike Zimmer Isn’t Sold on Case Keenum as QB. SBNation.com, 1 Mar. 2018, www.sbnation.com/2018/3/1/17066984/mike-zimmer-case-keenum-vikings.

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Penguin Book, 2006.





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