Simon As A Christ Figure In Lord Of The Flies

Thomas Hobbes, a talented yet controversial philosopher, is known for his striking theory; humans are more selfish and evil. In William Golding’s fictional novel, Lord of the Flies, a group of British boys crash on a mysterious islanded and is stranded. The main characters consists of Ralph, the chief, Piggy, the brains, and Jack, the hunter. Side characters include the biguns, the older boys, and the littluns, the younger boys. All together they try to survive with the materials supplied on the island until rescue arrives. However throughout the book, many character’s personality change from being civilized to savage. Beneath the novel’s text, characters, and plot, lies a message about humanity. Lord of the Flies is first seen as a novel about

British boys stranded on an island, however it can be a religious allegory connected to the Christian Bible. It reveals Goldings perspective of good vs evil ; humanity is naturally more evil and selfish.
Simon’s compassionate actions are comparable to Jesus, and can be regarded as a Christ figure, uncovering the goodness in people.

Simon is a bigun and a very quiet person who likes to keep to himself. In chapter three of Lord of the flies, Simon mysteriously walks into the forest as if something's drawing him in. The littluns catch up to Simon in the forest looking for food. Golding scribes,“Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight Simon found for (the littluns) the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless outstretched hands”(Golding 56). Simon sees fruit on a tree but notices the littluns can't reach it because of their short height. This illustrates Simon’s thoughtful actions and concerns for the littluns. He makes sure they're properly nourished. In the Bible Jesus, the disciples, and five thousand other followers were traveling. They were all hungry but their was only a couple pieces of bread and fish. Instead of keeping it to himself, Jesus found a way to share the small amount of food to everyone. This parable and Simon helping the littluns reveals the unselfishness and consideration humanity

has.
In the Bible and Lord of the Flies, characters and religious figures are misguided by evil, which leaves them to make betraying decisions, revealing their inner savageness. The boys proceed back to their camp ground after witnessing the disturbing beast on the mountain. Jack and Ralph are arguing because Jack believes Ralph's not fit to be chief. He doesn't hunt or watch the fire, but instead orders around the biguns and littluns. In frustration, Jack asks all of the boys who wants him to be chief. In response, no one raises their hand. Jack exclaims,““I'm going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too””(Golding 127). Jack is annoyed because no one chose him to be the new chief, and so he decides to leave the crew, which leads him to form his own group. The words “by myself” indicates separation, loneliness, and betrayal. Jack left the crew for what he wanted; power and control. In the Bible, story of Luke 22 , Judas, one of Jesus’s disciples, betrayed Jesus in return for money. Thomas Hobbes proclaims, “Furthermore, we all want to attain our goals such as having sufficient food, shelter, security, power, wealth, and other scarce resources.” Apart of humanity involves always wanting things. We always want extra necessities that we think will make us happy. The word “want” reveals the selfishness and greediness within ourselves. We don't think about others in our surroundings but just ourselves.
Evilness compels some of the boys on the island making them uncivilized, expressing vile behavior.

In chapter ten, the littluns, Ralph, and Piggy are soundly sleeping until they’re disturbed by a distinctive clash coming from the outside. Golding ferociously writes, “Ralph hit out, then he and what seemed like a dozen others were rolling over and over, hitting, biting, scratching. He was jolted, found fingers in his mouth”(Golding 167). Ralph and Piggy's ambushed by the savage Jack and his hunters, seeking to steal Piggy’s spectacles. Although it’s dark, Ralph and Piggy try to defend themselves from the uncivilized hunters. The words “hitting” ,“biting”, and “scratching” display violence and savagery, making Jack and his hunter look evil. Jack always had a passion for hunting and celebrating a kill. A majority of the biguns left Ralph's tribe to join Jack’s, who's gone rogue. Jack prepares a feast, and dances around a fire in celebration of a pig hunt. Golding remarks, “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt into the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws”(Golding 153). While dancing, the boys see a mysterious figure staggering towards them. The boys thought it was the beast, so their first instinct was to attack and kill. The phrase “tearing of teeth and claws” illustrates the boys’ killer instincts and the evilness within them. It later reveals it wasn't the beast who they killed,

but Simon. Lord of the Flies, the beast, can be compared to Beelzebub, the prince of devils in the Christian Bible because they both revolve around evilness and tempt humans. In the article, Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong, by Louis P. Pojman and James Fieser it states, “Hobbes believed the human beings always act out of perceived self-interest; that is, we invariably seek gratification and avoid harm.” The quote explains as humans, we act how we want to act or out of curiosity. “Invariably” seek gratification implies we always want to be surrounded with fulfillment and happiness even if it meant sacrificing.
William Golding’s allegory within Lord of the Flies reveals that under our masks of being good, humanity is more selfish and evil. When we walk on the streets or eat in restaurants, we observe the smiles and laughter as a community. However once rules, order, and civilization are ripped apart from us, we ignore the norms and morals of a civilization. All around the world, violence and fatalities occur from theft, murder, rape, bombings, and etc, revealing people’s inner savageness. Everyday were struck with the sadness and anger with the choices we or other people make. We are who we are because of our surroundings including social media, friends, and family. Some may disagree not all humanity is evil, but just some. “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; If a few drops of the ocean is dirty, the ocean does not become dirty”, said Mahatma Gandhi. By acts of kindness and support, it can withstand humanity being defined as evil and selfish.