Essay On Simon Lord Of The Flies

Simon is the one boy who never participates in destructive behaviors and always contributes to the well being of the boys. He continues to work even after everyone stops, gives Piggy food when no one else will, and speaks his mind about the beast. He is also the only one to realize that the true beast is inside the boys. Simon’s moral compass, much like the superego, allows him to see the evil of mankind. Simon is whole-heartedly good. The superego attempts to lead a person to the morally right pathway, much like Simon aims to show Ralph how he can do what’s best for the tribe. The primitive nature of the others overpowers Simon’s internal good nature. Even after his death, Simon’s moral nature lives on through the boys similar to how the superego can continue to shine after a person follows the desires of the id.

Simon is often referred to as the beast during this chapter, showing how the boys are only seeing him as an animal that they must hunt and kill. Found on page 153, Golding writes, “There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” This use of words with a very negative and animalistic connotation brings about a feeling that the boys have changed quite a lot whilst being on the island, and are no longer hunting for meat, but to satisfy an animalistic instinct inside of them, as Golding depicts in

Simon had a specific mission in the novel: the opportunity to talk to the beast and receive answers, very similar to revelations. His role was to help the boys notice what the Beast really was, and not

Simon is attempting to spread his revelation, but failed to and was instead brutally attacked by his own friends. However, Golding chooses to make Simon try to spread that realization instead of making Simon crying out to stop hitting him. Instead of yelling to stop, Simon tries to spread his message just like Jesus Christ wanted to before his crucifixion. Golding uses this action to draw that specific parallel. Finally, when Simon’s body is taken by the sea, the sea “dressed Simon’s coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble. The strange attendant creatures … busied themselves around his head. The body lifted a fraction of an inch from the sand and a bubble of air escaped from the mouth with a wet plop “ (154). Simon’s body seems to undergo a change as if he is becoming god-like or experiencing a rebirth after his death. The creatures, a representation of angels, are gathering Simon’s soul to take him to heaven. This is very similar to how Jesus Christ, the prophet who had a revelation that could not be spread when attacked by his own people, experienced a rebirth and eventually ascended into heaven. This story is reflected when Simon himself experiences a similar life to Jesus and eventually welcomed by the sea, a parallel to God and heaven. All of this seems to say that Simon is a Christ-figure and further supports the fact that we are all sinners waiting to be saved by God and Jesus

Simon falls to the ground dead and is described as beautiful and pure. The description of his death, the manner in which he died, and the cause for which he died are remarkably similar to the circumstances of Christ's life and ultimate demise. The major difference is

Throughout the time the boys were stranded on the island, Simon, in particular, displays his longing for peace and understanding. He not only desires those things but also desires to be alone in nature or alone when trying to understand. Golding first introduces this quality of Simon when Simon excluded himself from the “littluns” and goes into a secluded place in the forest where he seems to have found peace by communing with nature. He held “his breath...cocked a critical ear at the sounds of the islands” and brings himself into a meditative state (Golding,57). His actions of listening carefully to the “sounds of the bright fantastic birds, the bee-sounds, even the crying of the gulls” expresses his love of peace which he finds in nature

Simon is symbolized as things such as depression and loneliness which is very important, in the book because there is one point where someone says to the boys on the beach, which means that he thought about it while the others did not think about it. He thought about the problem and the things that the boys did, he becomes the beast himself. The story states, ”maybe we are the beast” (Golding).

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

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

He is always helping the Littluns when they are struggling and many other boys that are vulnerable such as Piggy. "Simon sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to piggy, who grabbed it" (Golding 74). This quote interprets an example of Simon showing his whole heartedness by giving Piggy food when Jack did not want to feed him because he did not hunt. "The vast majority of people reside prominently in civilized society, and they dismiss their instinct for aggression and dominance" (Wood, Bryan). This quote shows that people like Simon are always more civilized than those who begin to change into savages, Simon is the last piece of civilization on the island. "What I mean is...maybe it's only us" (Golding 89). Simon, himself, proposes to the rest of the boys that perhaps the beast is not only an external force, but an internal force within themselves. Simon is the only character to reveal Golding's point that innate human evil exists.

     The deaths of Simon and Jesus also had many things in common. Both were killed by members of their community, and were persecuted for the sins and evil of others. The events that directly followed the deaths of Simon and Jesus are very much similar also. According to the Bible, when Jesus was being persecuted “there was darkness over the whole land” (Mark 15:33) and once he died the earth shook. When Simon died “the clouds opened and let down the rain like a waterfall” (Golding 153).

     Simon was even sacraficed during the ritual dance so that the other boys may live. When Simon died he was killed by all the boys, but many of them are told that it wasn't really him. Ralph knows it was Simon they killed, and he realizes how everyone is becoming because Simon died. Also the way Simon was shown in the movie after he died showed him as a Christ-figure in the story. Simon dies on water that is calm, peaceful, and pure, the light reflects off the water and gives a kind of feeling of holiness, and the way he was floating with his arms stretched out like he was on the cross as Jesus was.

This reminds Jack and Ralph that there is a chance that the beast is real and there may be reason for all the fear.  It also reveals that Simon's character is very much in touch with reality. He is not trying to push the fact that a beast could be on the island away from him.  He is trying to deal with his fear and show the others that they can and should deal with theirs.

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

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