Simon Lord Of The Flies Character Analysis

Evil, the act inflicting pain on others, and the desire to always want to hurt someone physically or emotionally. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the boys are placed in strenuous circumstances that cause them to perform ruthless acts on each other. In Dr.Zimbardo’s Ted Talk he claims that when an individual is placed under the proper circumstances, he or she is competent of pursuing malevolent behavior towards someone. It is clearly demonstrated in the novel when the boys show dispositional factors (bad apples vs good apples), situational factor (bad barrels), and systemic factors (bad barrel makers).

All our personalities compare to a character from Lord of the Flies, and I found myself to be an ENFP or an idealist; someone most comparable to Simon. An ENFP or an idealist personality displays characteristics of being extroverted, intuitive, feeling and perceiving which. Furthermore, passionately concerned with positive improvement, being kind, warm, sympathetic, distracted and motivated were all trait described in the personality test for the ENFP. Due to our selflessness, how introverted and extroverted we are, and how we can think both logically and emotionally, makes Simon and I most similar.

Take for instance, Roger, a character from the novel, Lord of the Flies who is a sadistic person, finding pleasure in hurting others. Do you really believe that even if he was in a group where he finds himself to be part of a dangerous situation and he is needed to save one of the other boys, say Piggy for example, that he would do it? Of course not. He has proven to us that he enjoys inflicting harm on others, especially someone like Piggy. Golding himself states in Lord of the Flies, “A full effort would send the rock thundering down to neck of land. Roger admired.” (Golding 159). What Golding is saying is that Roger wants to harm Piggy so with that in mind, he finds that the rock is the best thing to achieve what he wants. It follows then that the kind of personality that the person has will either get them to help someone out or get them to harm them as well. Someone like Ralph and Piggy, who have more sympathy towards those that get hurt would be more willing to help out than someone like Roger and Jack. Roger and Jack are more of the kind to not help others out unless it benefits them or gives them pleasure in inflicting pain upon someone else in Roger’s case, but this is where we can see every person is different. It is not just that responsibility has been unconsciously passed on to someone else. Nevertheless, it would have been beneficial in Darley’s and Latane’s case to include both external and internal contributions as to why people decided not to aid another

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’”

Simon possesses a deep knowledge and understanding about the truth of the island and the beast of which the other boys know not. He also seems to posses many mystic qualities. He is the first to understand truly that the beast is not a physical or material being, but something that lives within the boys. Unlike piggy or Ralph, who are able to appreciate adult knowledge and understanding, Simon possesses the ability to see the darker side of knowledge. For Simon, the eyes of the Pig's head on the stick are "dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life", meaning that adults believe nothing is ideal, therefore his realisation in itself is cynical-- the beast lives within the children, making Simon distrust the human nature. He knows the truth but is unable to get it across to the other boys; "Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's' essential illness". Simon understands the truth behind the beast- that the

Lord of the Flies is often claimed to be an allegory of modern society. While this is true, Golding’s intentions in writing this novel are much deeper. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies provides an enlightening insight into the true nature of human beings; along with why people refrain from acting upon the evil that resides within them. He presents these ideas through symbolism within the novel and it proves effective in many ways. Through symbolism, Golding can unfold the excellent plot of his novel, while subsequently sharing his ideas on the relationship of mankind and society. Golding uses the beast, the conch shell, and Piggy’s glasses to symbolize the human impulse towards ‘savagery’ and the social constructs put in place to prevent it.

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of British boys suddenly become stranded on an island, all alone, forced to form their own social system. Throughout the novel, William Golding reveals his main character 's strengths and weaknesses in their attempts to lead. The character Piggy demonstrates the benefits and limits of intelligence in maintaining civil order.

Human’s innate behavior after the constraints and expectations of society disappear is the recurring theme centering the characters. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies uses the righteous Simon to highlight Jack and his evil role throughout the novel of savagery and civilization. The foil characters in Lord of the Flies exhibit the contrasting ideals and characteristics, the dissimilar symbolism of both characters, and the circumstances which lead both characters to follow one’s natural tendencies. To emphasize the message of Lord of the Flies, two young innocent boys will gradually begin to show their individualism.

In Lord of the Flies, many characters act as foils to each other. Simon and Jack highlight the stark contrasts between each other. Simon is moral, where as Jack is immoral. The good in Simon highlights the evil in Jack. This relationship contributes to the theme that when power is unchecked by logic it can become a destructive force.

The different notions concerning the main conflict in The Lord of the Flies prompt a debate, but it is obvious the main conflict is Man v’s Self. Since the exposition Ralph does not know if he can handle being leader. He is constantly at war with himself, he feels powerless against Jack's ways. As the novel progresses, readers learn Piggy does not fit in with the other boys. Moreover, he is an outsider and it is clear the other boys only keep him for his glasses. All the boys on the island collectively have a fear of the beast, except Simon. Even though Simon does not fear “the beast”, he sees to struggle with trying to convince the boys their fears dwell in them: “Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us” (Golding 89).

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

Piggy, Ralph, Jack, and Roger were all crucial characters throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding. All these characters made questionable decisions that when combined, contributed to Piggy’s necessary demise. Although some character’s decisions had a greater impact than others, they were all responsible in some way. Piggy’s stubborn behavior, Ralph’s lack of leadership, Jack’s power hungry and irresponsible behavior, and Roger’s unstable mental state all contributed towards Piggy’s passing. All this contributed to Piggy’s death and were necessary to the survival of everyone on the island.

No human, or animal, or other living being in this world is perfect. Flaws are existent. However, the severity of the flaws can differ, from mild to rather dangerous. Most importantly, flaws develop in a human being due to specific reasons. In Lord of The Flies, the author William Golding’s portrayal of selfishness and pride are significant because they are emotions that prevail when a civilization is absent, showing that humans have a tendency to go towards savagery that is contained by the presence of a civilization.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, a group of young boys get trapped on an unknown island due to a plane crash. While reading this novel one might come to realize “people were never quite what you thought they were,” (Golding 54). For example, Simon seems like any other preteen British kid. Jack also appears to be a regular kid. Piggy, too, is at first characterized as a total weakness. In the article “The Stanford Prison Experiment”, prisoners and guards also think they are kind and good, but soon realize they’re the complete opposite.

Through all the fear and savagery, one boy saw through it all, and began to speculate as to what the beast really was, this boy being Simon. As the idea of a beast arises, the tribe becomes chaotic. Simon however, a persona of neither savagery nor civilisation, questions the existence of a beast. “Maybe there is a beast...maybe it’s only us” as quoted by Simon, shows that he believes that there is a beast, but not the same beast everyone else has in mind. Instead, Simon, unaffected by the fear, believes that the beast is within each boy. Later on in the book, Simon’s speculations are proven true, as in a vision, he sees the Lord of the Flies who confirms that "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?"(Page 143). Simon also discovers the supposed beast is just a human being. Certain of this, Simon runs towards the tribe in order to tell them the truth. Fearful however, the boys see him as the beast and kill him and their only way of destroying the beast. From this, it is evident that the boys could not destroy the “beast” as they had killed the only boy who knew the truth.