In the words of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.” In other words, humans harbor an ever present looming evil nature within themselves. Evil is the force in nature that governs and gives rise to wickedness and sin, or the wicked or immoral part of someone. This concept of inner evil rising to the surface permeates William Golding’s dystopian novel Lord of the Flies, that evil exists in every human, proven through the characterization of the marooned boys. There is foreshadowing of the dangers of the boys’ inner immorality from one of the boys, Simon. As the novel progresses, evil starts asserts itself as the boys cast off their innocence and humanity, and turning against each other. Even the …show more content…
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
Everyone else has become a savage. Is Ralph on his way of becoming one too?
Simon is one of the most complex characters in Lord of the Flies. But who is he? What is his character? The traits that make Simon himself are his insightfulness, kindness, and shyness. He is proven to be insightful when he suggests the Beast is in the boys, he is kind when he gives fruit to the littluns, and he is shown to be shy when he declines to speak on numerous occasions. All of these actions show his character.
Leadership is an uncommon trait that stands out in those who possess it. People are like a herd of sheep, they need a shepherd. This shepherd figure more often than not tends to be the strongest person. However, the suspected strongest person doesn’t always make the best leader. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies Ralph demonstrates to be a better leader than Jack, despite being physically weaker. Jack is physically stronger, while Ralph has a sturdier head on his shoulders. Ralph knows what is the best for their group of boys. He is also more well liked by the other boys opposed to Jack.
In The Lord Of The Flies, the readers refer Simon is a sacrificial character. Simon reminds us all of Jesus or Christ-like. His personality is Christ-like, he cares for others, and if someone is hurt he will comfort them. Simon is always helping out by reaching the fruit from a high tree for the littluns. He is a skinny, active little boy, with very straight blond hair, almost white. His eyes are so bright blue that Ralph had been convinced that he would be odd or insane. When Simon died, Golding describes his death, saying, “Softly surrounded by a fringe of shape beneath bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simons dead body moved out toward the open sea.”(154)
Before the events of Simon’s talk with the lord of the flies, Jack and Ralph had gone separate ways from each other. Jack had left frustrated after Ralph was still accepted as chief of the boys. Jack with his followers found and killed a swine in the forest. They speared the head of the pig and left it as an offering for the beast that the hunters worshiped. Golding had special plans for the head of the pig and Simon. In this passage from Lord of the Flies, Golding shows that savagery will overtake civilization when fear and anger is spreading among the people of civilization.
The crying gradually died down. The tears step by step floated into abandoned wheezes, hiccups, and sneezes. Before long just a couple of littluns remained sneezing, rubbing their running noses with the back of their grimy hands.
Compassion and kindness, confrontation of the devil, and an unjust death. The character of Simon from William Golding's Lord of the Flies tells one of the most complex narratives in the novel, as well as carrying the strongest symbolism of all the boys. It becomes blatantly apparent Golding intended the reader to draw parallels of Simon’s character to be an allegory of Christ, both in their personality traits, actions, and in their death.
Simon represents a very caring, affectionate, and skeptical character in Lord of the Flies. His open imagination leads him outside of the beach and leads him to a tranquil clearing that offers an escape from the overwhelming disputes and thought of dying on the island. This clearing puts Simon’s mind at ease as it releases all of his problems. Simon has very bright eyes which resemble his vision, truth, and certainty. While everyone on the island acts paranoid about the “beasty”, Simon realizes the real truth regarding the so-called-beast. Simon’s skepticism leads to finding the truth about the beast and eventually leads to his own demise because no one else was ready for the truth.
The event that occurred 25 years ago has had a great impact on the young man. Although he would like to keep his last name anonymous, he will still be called by his first name, Simon. He was among one of the survivors that were stranded on an island due to the war. With Simon’s caring nature to the littluns, he was able to survive the harsh environment. Today Simon is now an adult and has a job. What could his life be like now?
Summary- Chapter 5 starts with Ralph walking the beach while thinking about things like how long his hair is and how no one listens. Later he blows the conch to signal a meeting to make people do what they are suppose to do which is helping with all the things they need to get done. He also mentions how important the fire is and if the fire isn't lit they won't get off the island because no one will know that someone is on the island. Lastly at the meeting Ralph and Jack talk about the beastie isn't real and that the little kids just imagine the beastie talking so there is nothing to be scared of. While Jack is teasing about Piggy a boy named Phil says that he has a dream about the beastie but when he woke up he saw something moving in the
This snippet from Chapter 4 gives us a look at Jack’s mental state after killing his first pig, another event that led to the savagery of the boys. Jack is joyful about the kill and is unable to think about anything else because his mind is “crowded with memories” of the hunt. William Golding connects Jack’s excitement with the feelings of power and superiority he experienced whilst killing the pig. Though, Jack’s excitement doesn’t come from having food and helping the group, it comes from having outwitted another creature. In the beginning of the novel, Jack claimed that hunting was important for providing meat for the group. It is now that it becomes clear that he doesn’t care about feeding the other boys or the common good, he only cares
Ιғ yoυ coυld нave anyтнιng in the World what would it be? Fame, money,a family, love? How about nothing? Yes, absolutely nothing this is a story of a man who wanted and received exactly that.
In chapter nine, the boys have definitely proven the point that they have lost all their innocence. The crime that the boys have committed unknowingly is beyond justification. The irony of the murder of Simon is that he was coming to tell the boys that there is no beast and instead the boys mistook Simon to be the beast,and ended his life.It is quite evident the boys have lost all control on all aspects of their old lives, whether it b e by their appearance have changed,manners or their perspective on abiding rules. The ritual dances they perform, the intimidating painted faces,and violent hunting are just a couple of ways showing their loss of control over their old proper selves that have turned into gruesome savages.Everyone has had to
“‘I wanted- to go to a place-a place I know’“(Golding 85). Simon is a tall and thin with black hair. Simon is also a light-hearted character. He is quiet and original. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Simon is an original character because of his thoughts, actions, and speech.
In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys are stranded on an island and are fighting for survival and power. All of the boys provide their own special strength in different ways but as always, they come with their weaknesses.