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Essay on characters in lord of the flies
Literary analysis of lord of the flies
Use of symbolism in lord of the flies
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In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Simon is empathetic; however, he struggles to communicate with the boys. Simon is an empathetic character. When walking in the forest, Simon and the littluns find fruit trees. Because the littluns are small, “Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach” (56). After Simon finishes, the children look at him “inscrutably” (56). Simon picking the fruit displays that he understands that the littluns can’t pick some of the fruit. At one point in his life, Simon was as small and helpless as the littluns. Picking fruit for the boys would also sate their hunger. The younger boys watched Simon “inscrutably” because they didn’t understand why Simon picked fruit for them. Simon’s action also reflects the relationship between a mother and child; Simon is the mother feeding the child, the littluns. During the quarrel between Ralph and Jack, Piggy’s glasses falls onto the rocks. Piggy is mortified, but Simon jumps into action: “Simon, who got there first, found it for him. …show more content…
Passions beat about Simon on the mountaintop with awful wings” (71). Golding emphasized, “passions beat about” Simon when retrieving the spectacles. The way the emotion was described as wings suggests Simon taking an angel-like role on the mountaintop. Angels are known for helping others and emphasizing with them. Simon also sympathizes with Piggy. Voong 2 Among the boys on the island, Piggy is the most ridiculed because of his appearance and ideas.
By picking up Piggy’s glasses, Simon is helping Piggy when the others didn’t. Without Simon’s assistance, Piggy would be searching for the specs longer. Piggy’s glasses also symbolize intelligence and are used to start fires. If the glasses were lost, the boys wouldn’t have their fire starter and Piggy’s vision would be distorted. On the mountaintop, Simon finds the body of the dead pilot. Simon then, “took the lines in his hands; he freed them from the rocks” (146-47). The corpse of the pilot proves that there is no beast on the island. Simon sympathizes with the pilot by releasing the parachute. Without Simon’s interference, the dead parachutist would remain on the island forever. Simon could’ve left the pilot alone and return to the boys empty handed, but with the parachute, he has proof that there isn’t a beast. From the littluns to the pilot, Simon shows
compassion. Although Simon is empathetic, he struggles to communicate with the boys on the island. During the exploration of the land, Jack and Ralph marvel at their new home. However, Simon only listens, “saying nothing but nodding till his black hair flopped backwards and forwards; his face was glowing” (30). Simon’s lack of speech implies shyness and awe at the thought. Golding also mentioned that Simon was “saying nothing.” From Simon’s actions, Simon agreed with Ralph and Jack, but didn’t say anything. Unlike Jack and Ralph, Simon’s lack of opinion implies that he’s more of a follower than a leader. During an assembly held by Ralph, Jack interrogates Simon about his whereabouts at night. Then, Ralph reiterates Jack’s point: don’t go in the forest at night. Humiliated, “Simon opened his mouth to speak but Ralph had the conch, so he Voong 3 backed to his seat” (86). Simon lacked the ability to defend himself. He could’ve stood up to Ralph and Jack, but Simon didn’t say anything because “Ralph had the conch.” Even though Ralph was in possession of the conch, Simon still could’ve took the conch to defend himself. During the same assembly, the boys begin to speculate the identity of the beast on the island. Some claimed that the beast came from the water, but Simon thought differently. “Simon felt a perilous necessity to speak; but to speak in assembly was a terrible thing to him” (88-9). Earlier in the gathering, Simon was shamed by the boys. Simon wants to express his idea, but from his previous experience in the assembly, Simon fears that he would be laughed at again. Because of his fear, Simon struggles to communicate. After discovering the dead pilot, Simon returns to the beach to share his discovery. However, the boys mistaken Simon as the beast and begin attacking him. Simon tries to identify himself, but fails: “It was crying out against the abominable noise, something about a body on the hill” (152). Regardless, Simon is killed by the mob. Simon tried to convince the boys that he wasn’t the beast, but they don’t listen. The boys are blinded by their belief that the beast is real. As one of the few that believes that the beast isn’t real, Simon failed to sway the boys’ opinion. Throughout Lord of the Flies, Simon sympathizes with others, but lacks communication skills. Word count: 804
The Lord of the Flies was written by William Golding. Simon is one of the major characters in this novel. Simon’s character lives by what is morally right as opposed to the rest of the island. Simon represents essential human goodness. There are many biblical parallels in the Lord of the Flies that result in Simon being compared to Christ.
he may lack in the athletic field, but his brain made up tremendously for that loss. In the first couple chapters, Ralph thought a fire would be beneficial in order to get rescued so, Piggy utilized his glasses, directed the lenses towards the sun and fire appeared. Thirdly, Simon represented the good on the island. All the young boys turned to Simon as their leader because Simon did not see age difference, he welcomed all with open arms. He also helped Ralph with the unstable shelters when the rest were distracted with antics, Simon is an overall warm hearted kid.
Both Ralph and Simon did not think the ideas of Jack and the rest of the children were very good because their ideas involved bad choices and horseplay. In the novel, Golding writes, “Piggy urges Ralph to blow the conch shell and summon the boys back
-Simon continues to show his good nature by trying to cheer Ralph up, which is a continual thing; I believe that Simon is meant to represent peace and frankly a bit of a Christ figure, as he is the epitome of nice, and his place in the forest is almost spiritual.
The boys’ fear of the beast causes them to pay no attention to their morals and act savagely to defeat it. However, Simon is ultimately able to understand the beast and avoid savagery because his embrace of nature allows him to avoid any fears of the island. Simon demonstrates this lack of fear when he climbs the mountain by himself in order to find the beast, despite the dangers that might await him. The hunters and even Piggy and Ralph want to avoid the mountain because that is the last place where the beast was seen, but Simon seems to Once he reaches the top, he finds a physical beast, but not the kind the boys were expecting: a dead parachutist. The parachutist serves as an ironic symbol of Simon’s understanding; the monster the boys were afraid was a human. In contrast, Piggy displays immense fear throughout the novel, especially about Jack. For most of the story, his appreciation of logic and order help him remain civilized, but eventually his fears overcome him and he acts savagely the night of Simon’s murder. As Golding states, “[Piggy and Ralph] found themselves eager to take place in this demented but partly secure society….[the crowd] leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore” (136). After this occurrence and the theft of his glasses, Piggy decides to
In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the concept of good fighting evil is clearly shown to be a big picture. In many cases, Jesus Christ represents good and bliss in the universe, while the devil represents evil. In this novel the reader sees the when good fights evil, the evil is a good turned evil. For example, before the devil became evil, he was an angel. He was good turned evil and is now fighting good. Simon represents the good and bliss, he is the Christ figure on the island while evil and savagery is shown in the other boys on the island. Both Simon and Christ share common qualities, actions, and deaths. Simon shows this throughout the novel, from the beginning until the time of his death.
Imagine a life that is detached from civilization and free from any socially imposed morals. In the story Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys is faced with this situation, and there is a perpetual conflict between the boys who are trying to maintain order and those whose violent instincts take over. Despite Ralph’s efforts to maintain order on the island and get the boys rescued, the boys, including Ralph himself, resort to violent and primitive behavior, and this is what causes Simon’s death. Whereas the other boys on the island lose their moral principles once savagery takes over, Simon retains his morals and does nice things such as helping the younger boys find food. In Lord of the Flies, Simon represents the speck of intrinsic morality and perceptive reasoning on the island, and unlike the other boys, he demonstrates morality as a way of life rather than a socially-imposed concept that is to be quickly lost in the wake of uncertainty.
As Jack hunts his “frustration seemed bolting and nearly mad” which shines in his slowly deranging eyes (Golding 67). In Lord Of The Flies by William Golding, stranded boys struggle to find order and civilization on an island with no other humans. After their plane crash lands, a few boys, such as Ralph and Piggy, are quick to set up standard rules. But, not everyone agrees that rules and rescue are what is most important. Jack, a boy who cares more about hunting, disrupts the goodness and order that remains in the boys. When a simulated hunting influenced and led by Jack goes awry, the boys kill Simon. The now deceased Simon is the purest and kindest of the boys. Jack leads the elimination of the only good left on their island. Whether it is his intention to kill him or not, Jack should be held responsible for Simon’s demise because he leads the group to kill him, regardless of his age.
Since the little ones are not really old enough to understand things very well so they just play, explore, and rely on the bigger. children to provide for them. Piggy's instinct is to stay back and out of the way. while putting his input in on things but not volunteering to actually do the work and using asthma as his excuse. Simon is curious about his surroundings and wants to find out what's here on the island.
Simon was the observant character, the quiet philosopher. He was often alone, sometimes by his own choice, and he liked to wander into the peaceful jungle. He sincerely cared about the other boys, sometimes helping the young ones to fetch fruit, yet "Simon turned away from them and went where the just perceptible path led him. Soon high jungle closed in" (56). He loved solitude and yet felt loneliness; he was alien to the other boys. The boys did not think anyone would be stupid enough to go into the jungle by night: "The assembly grinned at the thought of going out into the darkness. Then Simon stood up and Ralph looked at him in astonishment" (85). Many of the boys even thought he was "batty" because he left the group to spend time alone.
Golding makes very good use of characters in Lord of the Flies, he shows both good and evil through each of the characters. One of the characters that represents goodness is Simon. He is very good and pure, and has the most positive outlook. Simon is very different from the other boys, he seems to always be helping the Littluns and many other vulnerable boys 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, pg.74) This quote interprets an example of a time when Simon helped Piggy by giving him food, it shows Simon's wholeheartedness. Another example would be when Simon helps the Littluns pick fruit from high to reach places. All in all Golding tries to portray Simon as a Christ like figure.
In the end, even though he failed to inform the other boys of it, Simon through his use of spiritual power was able to recognize the truth. He stood strong against evil even though it consumed the island after his death. People can look to him as an example of how to act in real life. And to be honest, Simon is an important character to Lord of the Flies by William Golding, not just for all this, but because he is what every person should wish to be. In the book the others bully him because they do not quite understand him, but Simon in all reality is a role model for the world. Don’t you think that the world would be a much better place, if we all tried to act a little bit like Simon?
In Golding’s book Lord of the Flies Simon is a very significant character, who strangely isn’t made very familiar with the reader until the end of chapter three. At this point in the book the group of school boys who have crash-landed on this uninhabited island, have found a course of action. Unfortunately, not all the boys are working hard to accomplish what needs to get done. Jack is set on catching a pig, Ralph on getting rescued, and the rest of the boys are enjoying their time without adult supervision. While Ralph and Jack are busy arguing over what needs to get done Simon sneaks away for some peace and quiet. At this point in the novel Golding then follows Simon’s walk alone into the forest. Through this Golding effectively establishes
The character of Simon in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies has often been viewed as the Christ figure of the novel. If you were to examine the actions of both Simon and Jesus, you would find a number of incidents that parallel each other.
In the beginning, Simon was described as a 'skinny, vivid little boy…,'; (Golding 24) showing that he was undersized and possibly weaker than the others. He stuck around Ralph for a while, went exploring with him and Jack, and even helped him build the shelters. It was not long before he began to wander off by himself to that little place among the creepers. The other boys thought he was 'queer….funny.'; (55) because he was an outcast and rather strange.