Simon Character Analysis

Whitney Roberson

In the novel Lord of the Flies, the character Simon acts christ like in many ways. There is always reassuring and positive glow radiating from him wherever he goes. He is always calming down the littluns and making them feel safe when things are hectic on the island. He is so wise and mature and handles situations in the best possible way at all times. He is always acting calm and insightful in the worst situations, and above all, he doesn’t go around killing things like a crazed lunatic as the other boys on the island do. He is level headed and wise with great leading skills just like christ had. He was also a leader. All of the boys loved him and looked up to him because he was so understanding and reassuring. If I was in the boys’ position, I would be looking up to Simon too, considering that all of the other boys turned into crazed maniacs, thieving, lying, and killing for no apparent reason other than to feel accomplished and satisfied with themselves.

But Simon's freaky wisdom doesn't mean he's immune to the island's effects. Hallucinating and probably dehydrated that "swollen tongue" is a good giveaway, he imagines the severed pig's head talking to him, and that means Simon is even wiser than we originally thought, because all of the head's lines are actually his own, saying things like, "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt or kill!… 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?". The pig's-head-on-a stick scene and compare it to Jesus's visit to the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he was crucified. And when we say "visit," what we really mean is long and solitary mental suffering, much like Si...

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...ns of the boys? Are they somehow saved by his death? It's hard to say. But it does seem meaningful that he alone had the knowledge of the beast's true nature, he alone had the potential to save the boys from themselves and their fear, and they basically kill him for trying to spread the good news. In the end of the book Simon was killed by the other boys for false accusations of being the beast. When Simon was killed by the bother boys, it represents when christ was crucified by the Roman soldiers for accusations of not being the son of God. Simon was definitely a christ figure in Lord of the Flies, and it shows in so many ways. Most of the things that Simon went through on the island with the boys were very similar to the things that christ went through while he was on Earth.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. Print.