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Symbolism used in Lord of the Flies
Lord of the flies main character development
The lord of the flies symbolism
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The novel “Lord of the Flies”, by William Golding, features a character named Simon, who is the first of the boys to be killed by the other boys. His death takes place in chapter nine, A View to a Death, and is not only situationally improbable, but also not a well thought out character choice by the author. First, the reasons why Simon dies do not make sense. The events that lead to Simon’s death are as follows. He hallucinates the pig head speaking, which prompts him to discover the real beast. Then, he heads for the boys to tell them that the beast is nothing but a dead man. The boys believe Simon is the beast and kill him. On the surface, this is a perfectly logical way for him to die, but after conducting research, it actually does not …show more content…
make much sense at all. In the previous chapter, Simon is shown to be “thirsty, and then very thirsty” (190).
This dehydration is what causes him to hallucinate, and thus what causes him to find the beast. However, he could have only been in the forest for a few hours. In Shadows and Tall Trees, Simon is sent on his journey in the early evening, and in Gift for the Darkness, he loses consciousness before dark. Therefore, he would not have been dehydrated long enough to have the vivid hallucination portrayed in chapter eight. Considering this fact, it is only due to his impossible hallucination that he goes after the beast. After regaining consciousness, Simon says to the pig’s head, “What else is there to do?” (209). Subsequent to this, he begins to climb the mountain and it is there that he finds the lone parachuter, better known as the beast. This then encourages him to inform the others that there is nothing to fear, and the beast is only a dead man. Despite him knowing it was dark, the boys were afraid, and they were blood-thirsty for the beast, Simon walks onto the beach where the boys are chanting, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (218). The author describes the final chant before the boys notice Simon as “thick” (218) and “urgent” …show more content…
(218). This implies that the boys are being quite loud, which begs the question: why did Simon not tell the boys who he was? The text says Simon talks about the man on the mountain, but if the boys are killing him, why would he not yell “I’m Simon! Stop, it’s me Simon!”, rather than go on about the beast?
Not only does this not make sense, but it makes his death seem more humane in a twisted way. The boys did honestly believe it was the beast, and had no real evidence to prove it wasn’t, as Simon was not saying it was him. Therefore, his death was hard to be taken to close to heart. Next, there are many reasons why Simon should not have been the character to be murdered first. The author does not create an emotional attachment to Simon throughout the book, as he is seen as mysterious. To introduce and attempt to make a connection only two chapters before his death was not effective. There was no reason why the reader should have felt sorry for Simon, as he was not one of the lovable characters, such as Piggy, but he was actually already an outsider. This murder was meant to show the animalistic behaviours of the other boys, but it did not work, as Simon could have potentially died whether he was thought to be the beast or not. As he was the only boy who truly believed there was no beast, and the boys are on the path to insanity, going against what everyone else believed definately could have lead to his demise at a later point in the
story. It would have been far more ironic and showcased the boys awful behavior much better if Jack had been the one to die. All throughout the book, he has been the character portrayed as a murderous, blood-thirsty, animal. It would be insane to see that the boys had become so animalistic, they killed the most animalistic person in the story. Simon would not be one to fight back, as he is tired, thirsty, and has never killed. However, Jack would fight as hard as he could, because he’s murdered multiple times, and believes it’s okay to do so. To read about how the boy’s defeat him would have been so much more symbolic than reading about them kill Simon. Overall, Simon’s death was not believable, and not a good character choice by the author.
-I noticed that both leaders promised the boys “fun.” However, Jack’s idea of “fun” is somewhat evil, as it involves being savages and killing. Now, the Lord of the Flies says, “We are going to have fun on this island. Understand?” I think this may foreshadow Simon’s death, as Jack is the current leader, his idea of fun is killing, and the pig’s head is promising “fun” for Simon.
When Simon goes to the pig, Simon starts hallucinating and thinks the pig is speaking to him and it takes on the voice of a male. Meanwhile the hunters are naked, painted and people are losing their identity. Everyone is starting to think that it would be fun to be a savage. The Lord of the Flies says to Simon that everyone is gonna become savage and kill him. Simon loses consciousness, but then later wakes up and he realizes he needs to tell everyone that there is no beast. When Simon gets to where they all are, they all crowd around Simon and start chanting. Simon screamed out about the beast but this is what happened “the beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” (Golding 153)
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
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.
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.
Throughout everyone’s life, there will be a point where they will find themselves as the center of blame for a situation, even though it may not necessarily be said person’s fault. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the reader will see many different characters on the island, with many different opinions, which can easily lead to clashes between them. The issue with this is, whenever a altercation breaks out amongst the boys, they immediately try to find a “scapegoat” to throw all of the blame on. Throughout the story, Simon quickly becomes the scapegoat; being an outcast in this group of boys, it is very easy for the others to team up on Simon. Simon’s death can be used to provide an interesting example of how people are naturally evil.
The passage from chapter 9 from the novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding has a theme of the journey of death which is portrayed through imagery and the use of vivid diction. The passage shows the events occurring after Simon dies and how the effect and portray the tone. The tone of serenity is portrayed in the passage showing that how after Simon’s death the mood and tone pulls in a state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled in the air. Simon's death is one of the greatest misfortunes in William Golding's “Lord of the Flies”, both because of who he is and how he dies. Simon is the character who is most sensitive and represents the best part of human nature. He is the only boy who recognizes the true beast on the island which is them. When he frees the parachutist, the beast from the air, he is displaying a consideration which he is not given. In these final paragraphs, it seems that Golding is mourning the loss of civilized behavior.
As Simon was trying to tell the boys that the beast did not exist, his death symbolises that mankind can’t face the truth about their inner desires. Part of Golding’s intent was to demonstrate that the evil is not recognised in specific populations or situations. On the island, the beast is manifest in the deadly tribal dances, war paint and manhunt; in the outside world, the same lust for power and control plays out as a nuclear war. Throughout ‘The Lord of the Flies’ Golding has managed to show that evil is present in everyone.
Amongst the boys which have be stranded on the coral island, There is one certain character, a character that is different from the rest of the boys, a character which is wise and understanding but most of all importance a character with a symbol. This character is Simon. He is one of the most symbolic characters from the beginning to end.
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?
“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill…You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close. Close. Close,” in comparison to “And he said, ‘That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man’…All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Golding 143, Mark 7:20- 7:23, KJV). Both statements about inner evils, both spoken by one in the same person. The former was stated by Simon in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies as he spoke to the Lord of the Flies, and the latter is transcribed in the scripture of the Holy Bible, a book devoted to the life and stories of Jesus. These coinciding excerpts are not by coincidence in any way. Simon is the symbolic Christ figure in Lord of the Flies in more ways in one. Often
Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”As the storm continued, the littluns screamed and one of them broke the ring.The circle became a horseshoe.A thing was crawling out the forest.The beast stumbled into the horseshoe.The beast was on its knees in the circle as it's arms folded over it's face.As the clouds cleared up, the beast was a few yards away from the group and they saw it's blood cover up the sand and realized it was Simon.The boys were so scared of the beast as they confuse it with Simon.The beast is actually within themselves.The beast is their own fear.Piggy insist that it was an accident.As they have fear within
Lord of the Flies: Final Essay Exam. Are the defects of society traced back to the defects of human nature? The defects of society, and how it relates to the defects of human nature, can be explained with the savagery that drives the defects of society and the same savagery that drives the defects of human nature. In this story, Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the id, ego, and superego within the characters in the book. Golding represents the id with Jack, whereas the id says “I want, and I want it now,” and Jack constantly wants and needs power, and wants his way in every situation.
Simon is ridiculed for his thoughts even though he provides a more omniscient point of view. “Simon’s effort fell about him in ruins; the laughter beat him cruelly and he shrank defensively to his seat” (Golding 81). Simon is very caring and complicates the battle of savagery and civilization displayed by the two main leaders, Jack and Ralph. He is caring, giving, slow to anger, and very intelligent. All of these traits seem to be unheard of in this makeshift civilization. Before death both Jesus and Simon have life changing encounters in a garden. Jesus is comforted by and angel in the garden before his arrest and death, where the Lord of the Flies reveals to Simon the secret of the monster. Simon’s dies varies from the death of Jesus, although in both situations the crowds do not comprehend what they are doing. Simon dies without receiving salvation. He never is granted the chance to share what he has learned about the true monster being located with human souls. Simon is then stabbed repeatedly when he is mistaken for the monster. Jesus dies on the cross after being betrayed my Judas, one of his disciples. In both cases, both individuals die with an understanding of sin and the flaws of
One of the consequences of war is the loss of the value of life that results in the loss of life. In Lord of the Flies, two of the main characters die, Piggy and Simon. As seen in the book, the quote, “Simon’s dead body moved out toward the open sea”, is contributing to the death of Simon (Golding 154). Simon was the most innocent boy in the story and unfortunately the first to die. Ralph and Piggy were so grieved with themselves, claiming that they had done nothing wrong, but actually had. Seen that they are bothered within themselves in what they did, Ralph speaks up to Piggy saying, “Piggy, that was murder. I wasn’t scared.”(Golding 156), with Piggy responding, “We was scared! Anything might have happened.” (Golding 156). These quotes that were spoken by Ralph and Piggy are showing that they really did care for Simon, they just did not realize it until the lost him due to the fighting of all the boys. Near the ending of the book, Piggy lamentably...