Lord of the Flies Newspaper Article

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 verses the Lord Of The Flies Couple kids end up on an island, what could possible go wrong? Well as mature as these boys might seem its not all fun and games when these boys do not have contact to the outside world for over a month or two. Each day the boys encounter a new conflict and the conflicts get scarier and more treacherous then the last day. “l’ll go if you like. I don’t mind, honestly’”

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.

Unlike most the other boys Simon retains civil. Simon displays his maturity through the sacrifices he makes Golding writes, “Someone's got to go across the island and tell Piggy we'll be back after dark." Bill spoke, unbelieving. "Through the forest by himself? Now?" "We can't spare more than one." Simon pushed his way to Ralph's elbow." "I'll go if you like. I don't mind, honestly” (Golding 117). Furthermore, Simon’s death displays the groups true maturity Golding writes, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!” (Golding 152). This scene depicts the group killing Simon out of fear, this displays the island reveals their low maturity because they ignore reason and act in fear. Clearly the Goldings novel displays the island reveals maturity through

At the end of Lord of the Flies, Ralph weeps “for the end of innocence”. That’s an example that Ralph did indeed recognize that the boys did lose innocence and that he realized this after leaving the monstrous island. The beast did indeed cause the boys fear and terror. The cause of Simon’s death was the beastie’s

In this quote, Ralph seems to be denying the death of Simon. I believe that the author is having Ralph go through the stages of grief, though only time will tell. This quote shows me that, without followers, Ralph seems to be a vulnerable child. I could see this weakness leading to his demise now that Jack has gained followers and I do not see Ralph gaining any followers back.

“ “Shut up,” said Ralph absently. He lifted the couch. “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things around here.” (Chapter 1, Page 22) Ralph immediately notices the boys need some leadership his natural choice is to help guide these boys. He, however, lacks this responsibility. He doesn't continue to command respect from the boys. Ralph grows up faster in the book due to Jack. Later Jack breaks the tribe apart with his appealingly savage ways. Jack ended up establishing a hunting tribe. Once the tribe breaks Ralph tries to bring it back together, but since he didn’t have solid leadership skills even though he might have developed some compassion. He tries to convince Jack that he is still in charge and has power over the boys. The changes Ralph undergoes, from self-centered to group centered, doesn't reflect the island as a whole. They are all too elated to abandon the trappings of society.

Fear is a very strong emotion. It’s created by the thoughts we create in our minds. We can all choose whether we listen to those thoughts or if we push it to the back of our minds and carry on with our day. Sometimes fear is good. It tells us that we should get out of a dangerous situation or place. Other times, it can be evil. It controls and sabotages us. It haunts us everyday. Controlling people, like Jack, use it to their advantage. Other people, like Ralph, push them to the back of their minds and focus on the more important things in life. Simon comes face to face with the fear and evil.

In the beginning, Simon likes Ralph very much. He always accompanies and helps him with work for example watching the fire, building the shelters, carrying the messages and in many more ways. When Ralph, Simon, Jack, and Roger go to the mountaintop for pig hunting, Ralph remembers about his old life of warm food, proper grooming, and children’s books. As Simon watches him, he estimates that Ralph is thinking about his old life and rescue from this island just as everyone else. He sits beside him and tells him, “You’ll get back to where you came from … For a moment nothing more was said. And then they suddenly smiled at each other.” [Page: 121] His prophecy leaves a foreshadowing of the deaths of himself and everyone else’s except Ralph’s. He

he was elected into, causing disarray in the group’s dynamic. Ralph is unable to use his power to benefit the wellbeing of the island’s society.

Simon says to the group, “Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us.” … This shows that Simon is really the only one who is thinking with logic unlike the rest of the boys. Everyone acts like animals but Simon. As soon as Simon realizes that they are just imagining things in their heads he is killed. Even if Simon would have made it out of the woods to tell the group that everything they believed was just in their heads, the group still would not believe him. The boys are too mad at this point to listen to anything anyone has to

Jack Merridew is the leader of the boy's choir. His name means "one who supplants" reflecting his use of force, and it is derived from Hebrew. He will come to represent savagery, anarchy, and anger. He is about the same age as Ralph.

1. The animals who gather to hear Major’s speech each mirror a single human trait. What is revealed in Clover? Boxer? Benjamin?

He saw what humans were capable of and watched as his friends began to revert to their savage nature. He weeps for the “loss of innocence, the darkness of a man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the once wise, true friend called Piggy.” It is at this point that Ralph matures, as when he cries, he cries for everyone and everything. He realizes that life isn’t so simple and that it, along with other humans, are complex and unpredictable.

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