Character Essay of Simon - Lord of the Flies

In addition to his actions, Simon’s encounter with evil further characterizes him as a Christ figure and an oracle archetype. The novel’s title, Lord of the Flies, originates from a mistranslation of Beelzebub, another name for the devil. The sacrificed sow head on a spear, called the Lord of the Flies, symbolizes the devil. Since Simon’s confrontation with the Lord of the Flies occurs in the midst of a delusion, it can be considered a prophecy similar to an oracle’s vision. Both Christ and Simon meet with the devil while in altered physical states. Simon’s confrontation with the Lord of the Flies is a result of severe dehydration and an epileptic fit indicated by “a pulse [that] began to beat on the brain” which parallels Christ’s meeting with the devil during the forty days he went into the wilderness without food or drink (Golding 138). In his vision, Simon realizes that “things are what they are” because

The encounter with the Lord of the Flies supports Simon’s thoughts that the beast that the boys are hunting for is not an actual animal. The Lord of the Flies tries to persuade Simon to let go of his rational thoughts and be taken over by his primal instincts in order to have fun like the other boys. However, when Simon’s silence declares that he refuses to let go of logic and rationality, the Lord of the Flies realizes that Simon knows what the beast really is—the innermost part of the boys. Simon seems to make this connection that the Lord of the Flies is representational to the inner beast within the boys almost instantly. “His gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition”(Golding 139). Simon instantly The Lord of the Flies quickly makes the connection, too. “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding, 1 ). The Lord of the Flies is symbolic to all the evil that is in humans. As Simon realizes that he was right about the beast, he tries to go back to the other boys to warn them about his discovery, but the Lord of the Flies gets angry. “This is ridiculous. You know perfectly well you’ll only meet me down there—so don’t try to

The character of Simon in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies has often been viewed as the Christ figure of the novel. If you were to examine the actions of both Simon and Jesus, you would find a number of incidents that parallel each other.

Simon is meant to be a Christ-figure in the Lord of the Flies because he is killed like Jesus, and is representing communion, he looks like an angel being sent to heaven, and cares about everyone like Jesus. Simon is kind, caring, and acts and is similar to Jesus in many ways. He is meant to try to bring peace and help everyone on this island. This island needed a protector because of all the chaos that happened and he was meant to be

Simon, one of the major characters in the story, is set as the allusion of Jesus. Christ always had an affinity with children; in Ch. 4, he shows his way with the ‘littluns’ by picking fruit for them. This shows his goodness by nature. Also, like Christ, he saw the atavistic problem of the hunters and tried to bring them back to good. As in the bible, Simon, like Christ, dies

Simon shows his individuality and cravings for tranquility and cognizance also through his participation with others. One instance when he truly displays this is when he was picking fruit from the “littluns”. The “littluns” and “lugged them towards the trees” and “Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach” (Golding,56). He feeds them alone and “when he had satisfied them”he “turned away from them and went where the just perceptible path led him” (Golding,56). This shows how through his clarity with nature and himself, he helps others and continues to portray that he prefers to think, act, and help others by himself. He also shows his individualism when he reacted to the death of the pig. With the chaos going around him, Simon isolates himself and “lowered his head, carefully keeping his eyes shut, then sheltered them with his hands” next to the pile of guts Jack and Roger left after penetrating the pig’s head with a stick (Golding,138). He ignores everything around him and tries his best to hide away from the monstrous actions the other boys are committing. This also supports the idea that he favors time alone in his own thoughts in peace rather than facing his fear. In

Simon is a character who is a major significance in Lord of the Flies. Simon is one of the boys stranded on the island after his plane crashed. Additionally, Simon is a member of the choir. As part of the choir, he is under the leadership of Jack. Simon is described as “...a skinny, vivid little boy, with a glance coming up from under a hut of straight hair that hung down, black and coarse.” (24) He is also prone to fainting. For instance, shortly after the plane crashes, Simon faints in front of all of the other boys. Simon is an important character in the novel.

Simon was the only person in the book who interacted with the so-called beast. He saw that the physical form of the beast as the Lord of the Flies, a sow's head on a stick. Fear would have been struck through Simon as he heard the pig say: "There isn't anyone to help you only me. I'm the beast." Simon tried to run back to the camp but he came at the wrong time and was mistaken as the beast and was brutally

Simon is shown by Golding as a martyr who died for the truth. He gave

Simon tries to state the truth: there is a beast, but that "it's only us" (page #). When he makes this revelation, he is ridiculed. This is an uncanny parallel to the misunderstanding that Christ had to deal with throughout his life. Later in the story, the savage hunters are chasing a pig. Once they kill the pig, they put its head on a stick and Simon experiences an epiphany in which the Beast tells Simon: "Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!  You knew, didn't you? I'm part of all of you " (143).  As Simon rushes to the campfire to tell the boys of his discovery, he is hit in the side with a spear, his prophecy rejected and the word he wished to spread ignored.

The Bible contains various memorable events, and selected events are referenced in book plots. One book that references biblical events is Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The beginning of the book of Genesis operates frequently as a reference to the plot in Lord of the Flies. Additional events of the Bible are used as the source of an analogy to the plot of Lord of the Flies. Finally, Simon represents a Christ-like figure due to his actions that corresponds to Jesus’ actions in the Bible.

In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Simon represents the innate morality of humans, acting as a Christ-like figure, while Roger embodies the all present cruelty and inherent sadism of individuals. Throughout the novel, Simon remains unchanged in terms of morality, as others slowly turn to savagery and hunting, as can be seen when Jack’s group become, “demoniac figures with faces of white and red and green.” Instead Simon finds a quiet spot “in a little cabin screened off from the open space by a few leaves.” By “holding his breath, he [cocks] a critical ear at the sounds of the island,” using his secret cabin to meditate. Coupled with his deep connection to nature, Simon is revealed to be a Christ figure. When left alone with the

The clouds were sitting on the land; they squeezed, produced moment by moment this tormenting heat. There were no shadows under the trees but everywhere a pearly stillness, so that what was real seemed illusive and without definition. At last Simon gave up and looked back; saw the white teeth and dim eyes, the blood – and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition.” Simon describes the clouds sitting on the land and the great bulging towers, it seems he is trying to describe heaven unintentionally and Simon also refers to “tormenting heat” and Lord of the Flies means Beelzbub which is a demon or satan. Simon is a christ figure but in my opinion I think he should be looked at as a disciple such as peter; Simon starts to have a conversation with the dead carces, rather than being disgusted by the action it shows his kindness and gratitude towards gods creation he expresses his sympathy, “Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt or kill! … You knew, didn't you? I'm part of

This shows that Simon has thought about it and is thinking about it more as he moves forward and ends up putting on the pig to show everyone how he feels but ends up getting killed. Simon shut people out because he was torn between doing the right thing and not doing the right thing. He understands that if he just goes away that he won’t have to be torn. Which shows that he would rather step back and think and look then to just jump to conclusions. Simon is mature for doing what he did. This is very important because it shows that people that you say you can trust you can’t and they stab you in the back. Simon is a very important person in the book and always will

The boys project their irrational fears as a derivative of their immaturity, in an attempt to identify a realized external enemy. Literary critic Lawrence S. Friedman explains, “Too immature to account for the enemy within, the boys project their irrational fears onto the outside world. The first of these projections takes the shape of a snakelike “beastie,” the product of a small boy’s nightmare.” (233) The boys’ irrational fear of the unknown, one of a small boy’s nightmare, only serves to exemplify their immaturity in handling situations like this. It is a stepping stone to events to come, prophesied by Simon. In addition, the character of Simon alludes to the fact that there evil ‘beast’ can really be traced to their internalized innate evilness. Simon argues, “maybe there is a beast… What I mean is… maybe it’s only us.” (Golding 89) While all of the boys attempt to explain the phenomena of the ‘beast,’ Simon is the one who realizes that the boys themselves are the evil ‘beast’ they perceive. There is no external force, the ‘beast’ only serves to be a placeholder for the boys’ true primal nature. However, it is Simon’s death, at the hand of the boys themselves, that only serves to prove that evil truly exists in all of these boys. Friedman suggests, “The ritual murder of Simon is as ironic as it is inevitable. Ironically, he is killed as the beast before he can explain that the beast does not exist. His horrid death refutes is aborted revelation: the beast exists, all right, not where we thought to find it, but within ourselves.” (236) His death is truly the tipping point, a point of no return for the boys. After his killing, Simon’s philosophy of inner evil is realized. It is clear that his own philosophy is what ultimately leads to Simon’s death, as unfortunate as it may be. It is reflected of the group’s fear of the unknown, and their