Simon In Lord Of The Flies

Simon

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.

Simon and Jesus share

very common qualities. They both sensitive and compassionate. Simon was compassionate towards Ralph when Ralph had the feeling that they weren’t going home. Ralph was the leader and most of the boys on the island looked up to him. He had no one to turn to when he was under stress, however, Simon was there to listen and connect with Ralph. Ralph doubted that they will be rescued and taken back to the places they were before the plane crash. “‘You’ll get back to where you came from…You’ll get back all right. I think so, anyway,’” (Golding, 111). Simon was there to reassure him and make Ralph feel like Simon was there for him. This was because Simon was sensitive towards other people. This is a shared quality between him and Jesus Christ. At one point, Jesus had felt sympathy upon a large crowd he saw that was in distress because it reminded him of sheep without a shepherd. He decided to to guide them and teach them many things.
In some religions, Jesus is God and in other religions, Jesus is chosen by God. Either way, Jesus Christ is a religious figures and in every religion, Jesus is a sign of truth and understanding. Simon and Jesus both also understand the truth. Simon shares this quality with Jesus because he understands many things the boys on the island don’t. The boys on the island believe that there is a beast on the island but Simon thinks that the beast is actually in the boys. “‘What I mean is…maybe [the beast’s] only us…we could be sort of…’” (89). He wants to explain to the boys that they create the evil and the boys should be scared of the fact that they can become the beasts eventually. They become the beasts when they turn to savagery. When Simon goes to tell them about his theory, the boys just laughed and ridiculed him for being different and thinking differently from them. This made Simon feel small and defeated by the children’s mindset. “The hunters were screaming with delight...the laughter beat [Simon] cruelly and he shrank away defenseless to his seat,” (Golding 89). This was another quality that Simon and Christ had shared. They both were misunderstood by those among them. Simon resembles Jesus because Christ was considered a fraud by his peers and the political figures at the time he had his message.
Simon and Christ act in very similar ways.

Their actions are what makes them different from other characters or people in their stories. For example, both Christ and Simon have two different identities. Christ was a Jewish man and, in Christianity, the son of God. Simon also shared the fact that he has two identities. His first identity was that he was dedicated to Ralph. He made sure to follow Ralph with his decision making and do whatever Ralph wants him to do. He does so because he want to return to the way things were before the crash. He wanted to go home in a civilized manner and not in savagery. He helped build shelters for Ralph and was one of the few core support of Ralph. Simon's second identity was a mature, spiritual self. He would always go to the forest to meditate and become one with the island to further his understanding of it. Just like he was compassionate towards others and their feelings, he was sensitive towards the island. When he visits the forest, it is as if his spiritual alter ego shows up and takes over him. “Then he… walked into the forest with an air of purpose… he wormed his way into the center of the mat… holding his breath he cocked a critical ear at the sounds of the island,” (Golding 55-57). This shows that Simon is different from the other boys. It shows that Simon has a deeper understanding of what is happening on the island that the other boys don’t know

about.
Being tempted by evil is also a similar action done by both Jesus and Simon. Simon is tempted by the Lord of the Flies, which in Hebrew is translated to Beelzebub. In other words, Beelzebub is another name for “the demon of Hell” or Satan. When he speaks to the Lord of the Flies, it comes to him in a vision. “‘You are a silly little boy…there isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast…you knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?...don’t try to escape…we are going to have fun…’” (Golding 143-144). The Lord of the Flies taunts Simon until Simon couldn’t handle it anymore and passes out. Passing out is the way Simon gives up, so to speak. It is the way Simon handles too much information at once. This relates to Jesus because Jesus, too, was tempted by evil. During his forty days and nights of fasting, Jesus was tempted by the evil Satan. Finally, both Simon and Christ had been killed for knowing the truth and understanding information that is more advanced than the peers around them. First, Simon is ridiculed for his idea of thinking that the beast is actually them and that the beast lives because the boys are the beasts. Then, he is killed for wanting to share the truth about the parachutist and how the physical beast is actually a deceased man with a parachute in the trees. However, the boys killed him before he could tell them about the Lord of the Flies and the parachutist due to the savagery within the boys.
The death between Simon and Jesus Christ is very similar. After Jesus was crucified for being a “fraud,” he resurrected leading people to believe that he will come back one day and be the new messiah. Simon, similarly, was also reawakened. After he had given up and passed out due to the intense vision with the Lord of the Flies, he was “swallowed whole” by the Lord of the Flies. This shows that evil had taken over his physical self but not his spiritual self, meaning, evil has taken over his innocence at that moment. This entire scene of resurrection gave him a new meaning and purpose. He had to tell the others about the parachutist and that his theory that the beast live among them was true. However, this is what gets them killed. Both Simon and Jesus Christ are persecuted for their ideas and their beliefs. When he finds out the truth, he was wants the tell the boys, “A thing was crawling out of the forest…the beast stumbled into the horseshoe… Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill,” (Golding 152). Simon died because he believed him the fact that the beast lived among the boys, while Jesus died for believing he was the son of God. If the reader thinks about it, this is what Simon was trying to get across to the boys from the beginning of the book until his death.
Jesus Christ and Simon were killed by an unjust hand.

Both their killers were unjust in their actions towards them. Jesus was killed because he had a new belief to put upon everyone. However, the people didn’t like change and believed that the way they lived at that point in time was the right way. Simon, on the other hand, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. “The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed… there were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws,” (Golding 152-153). This quote shows that Simon was killed out of adrenaline and fear. The boys on the island showed no sign of humanity in their killing of Simon. They bite him and clawed him as if they were wild animals preying on their prey. They had no understandable reason behind killing Simon and they eventually realized that after they had already killed Simon. This realization dawned upon them as Simon was being carried off into the sea. “Simon’s dead body [moves] out toward the open sea.” In both situations, Christ and Simon, the group that had killed them were unjust in their

actions.
From the dawn of time, good always fights evil. However, what the reader doesn’t catch is the fact that evil was once good. For example, Satan was an angel before he became the devil, and the boys on the island were just regular school boys before they became savage. Simon is the representation of Christ in this book from a religious point of view. Christ is a way to show good and bliss in the universe as Simon is the boy who shows pure good on the island. Both Simon and Jesus share qualities, actions, and deaths. Even after their deaths, both Christ and Simon have supports that fight from them. After Jesus had sacrificed himself, he had Christian followers that were always loyal and tried to stay away from evil for the sake of appreciating his sacrifice. After Simon had died, he had Ralph that stayed loyal for what Simon believed in and stayed away from savagery for as long as he could. Golding tries to show the readers that good will always go through trial and tribulations by the evil in life, however, it is up to the person to find the good in themselves and fight the evil, like Jesus, like Simon.