Theme Of Goodness In Lord Of The Flies

“All human beings are commingled out of good & evil” was a quote once said by notable Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. This quotation discusses and supports William Golding’s, the author of Lord of the Flies, belief that all humans have a distinct character flaw that, when left unchecked by morals and laws of society, will eventually corrupt the individual. In Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, it’s shown how due to their environment and lack of supervision, the young boys slowly progress and evolve into barbaric, bloodthirsty individuals.

William Goldning’s Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel where literary techniques are utilized to convey the main ideas and themes of the novel. Two important central themes of the novel includes loss of civilization and innocense which tie into the concept of innate human evil. Loss of civilization is simply the transition from civilization to savagery; order to chaos. The concept of loss of innocense is a key concept to innate human evil because childhood innocense is disrupted as the group hunted animals and even their own. Through the use of literary techniques these ideas are seen in the passage where Simon confronts the “Lord of the Flies.”

Although all of the other boys on the island are turning into savages, Simon does not follow. The other boys are becoming savages because it is instinct. Simon is not like the other boys, in this sense. Simon is a Christ-like figure, so he isn’t able to become savage. This island is a very harsh environment, so only the savage will be able to survive. The other boys are not always savage, as they have developed the savagery over time. Simon isn’t able to develop this and he isn’t able to survive on the island, just as piggy. Due to this Simon will not be able to survive. The novel is foreshadowing that Simon will not make it, as he has not turned savage “You’ll get back to where you came from” (Golding 111). This quote implies that other boys, such as Ralph, will get back and make it but Simon will not.

The tragedies that unfold their civilization occur when they brutally beat Simon to death. After Jack and his hunters place the mother sow’s head in the forest as an offer to the beast they think exists, Simon encounters it and sees that it is covered in flies. Suddenly, the head started to talk to Simon as he feels like he is going to faint. It identifies itself to be the Lord of the Flies. It says, “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 158). Simon then realizes that there is no physical beast, but a mental beast in each and every boy on the island. They all went from being joyful to a bunch of savages. Their

Simon, one of the major characters in the story, is set as an allusion to Jesus. Christ always had an affinity to children, as Simon does in chapter three of Lord of the Flies (Golding 56). He picks fruit for the younger children on the island that they call

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.

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 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 also represents the Christ figure in the story, which makes him morally good and pure, furthering his identity as the Superego. One example of the compassion that Simon is known to show throughout the story is when Jack has killed the first pig, and denies Piggy a piece of meat because they don’t get along. Simon decides that the best course of action was to put Piggy’s needs before his, and “shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it” (Golding 74). This shows the empathy he feels for others. When Simon is talking to Ralph and says, ”You’ll get back where you came from.” (Golding 111), this is an example of foreshadowing, but also an example of the empathy that he feels, because he wants Ralph to not be upset by anything and know that he’ll make it back okay, even if Simon doesn’t. Even during Simon’s death, when he emerges from the forest and towards the group, he is trying to tell them that there’s nothing to be afraid of, "Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill" (Golding 152), and when he is being pummeled, he still tries to tell them about the parachuting man. Simon’s selflessness and the fact that he is a Christ figure makes him the representation of

Simon attempts to comfort Ralph by ensuring him that he will eventually return back to home. Apparently, he cannot guarantee such a thing or give a precise date to Ralph, but, as one of the most matured boys on the island, and based on his intelligent to read the signs around him, realizes that Ralph is losing his hope and soon will end up like Jack. Thus, tries to encourage and motivate him, to look forward to the day of rescue. Also, in the novel, Simon, is considering a religious figure, more like an angel, who can predict the future. He is always there for Ralph, supporting him and providing the necessary information he needs in order to keep going with the life on the island.

Although there are numerous reasons why Simon is a Christ figure, there is one event in the novel that truly separates Simon as being a Christ figure.This event is when Simon sacrifices his life. Simon is killed by the other boys because he is thought to be the beast, a threat to all of them. Simon knew he was going to die while on the island and accepts his fate. By dying, Simon saves Ralph

Both Simon’s brother and father act on their anger and Simon pays attention to how they deal with their anger.

Despite the fact that he is physically weak, and “flopped on his face in the sand” (Golding 20), fainting when we first meet him, he still manages to be heroic. Perhaps the most obvious proof of this is his willingness to help the weak, the outcasts. For example, he gave up his food to Piggy when Jack refused to give him food, and helped littluns in the forest, “found for them the fruit they could not reach...passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands” (Golding 56). Additionally, he tries to vanquish the irrational fear of the beast, but “became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness.” (Golding 89). When he finally scales the mountain, to discover that the “beast” is truly just a dead man that fell from a plane, he loses his life trying to tell the other boys, as they tore him apart in their savage dance. So, despite the fact that Simon fails to actually save the boys from the true beast within them all, he tries his best, and dies not having wavered in his dedication, as did Ralph and

Even though Golding had an enormous amount of symbols throughout his novel, Simon is the first to recognize the complication posed by the beast and the “Lord of the Flies” that is, that the monster on the island is not a real, physical beast, but rather a savagery that lurks within each and every human being. As a final point, the loss of social structure within civilization can lead to the demise of the boys on the island whether it's between Ralph vs Jack, the boys vs the island, or even Simon vs

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.