Symbols In Lord Of The Flies Research Paper

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Do symbols relate to each other in literature, and how can they affect each other directly or indirectly? In Lord of the Flies, one symbol, the boys mistake Simon for the beast. The boys are in a circle chanting about the beast, and Simon stumbles in, "Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill. 'Kill the beast! Cut his throat.'"(Golding, 152) Jack's tribe kill Simon because they mistake him for the beast. The beast, which the group feared like an evil god, appeared before the boys as a dark figure, but the tribe does not know it was Simon. Simon loses his life due to what the boys think the beast to be. The group of boys develops a fear of the beast because it was the only way they could comprehend the events that unfolded. …show more content…

A symbol is a representation of someone or something in a work of literature or a movie. (Dictionary.com, "Symbol") When Jack and his group split off, they make an offering to the beast. Jack tells the group that, "The head is for the beast. It is a gift."(Golding, 137) The offering is similar to a sacrifice, like the ones that people make to appease the devil. The boys offered the pig head from their recent kill as a treat for the beast because they want to protect themselves from the beast. Jack centers the ideology of his tribe around the fear of the beast and worshipping it. The second example is the beast's conflict with Simon, who is a symbol for Jesus in Lord of the Flies. The beast tells Simon, "'You know perfectly well you'll only meet me down there--so don't try to escape'"(Golding, 143)! The beast is telling Simon that he controls the whole island and that there is no escape from him. The beast tries to control Simon's mind by using an authoritative tone and telling him he is in control. The third way in which the beast represents the devil is that the littlun sees the beast as a snake. Ralph says, "'You couldn't have a beastie, a snake-thing, on an island this size'"(Golding, 36), The devil commonly take the form of a snake, just like the beast did in this scene. The beast is the devil in The Lord of the Flies, and main source of evil on the …show more content…

This is the first encounter that Simon has with the beast, which he calls the Lord of the Flies. Simon represents Jesus in the Lord of the Flies. The beast tempts Simon, which is similar to how Satan tempts Jesus in the bible. Simon meets the Lord of the Flies, who is the representation of the devil and the beast, in the forest and the beast tells Simon, "I'm warning you. I'm going to get angry. D'you see? You're not wanted. Understand"(Golding, 144)? The beast tries to manipulate Simon against his friends, and attempts to tempt him into joining him. Simon's behavior also connects to how Jesus feeds thousands of hungry people when Simon takes the hungry littluns into the forest, "Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to endless, outstretched hands"(Golding, 56). Simon feeds a group of littluns he found hungry in the forest because he had the ability to. The third way Simon relates to Jesus is that Simon hears the group's problem and goes off to solve them, just like Jesus did. During the assembly Simon hears about the beast and the groups fear, "Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness. Inspiration came to him"(Golding, 89). Simon plans at this moment to go into the forest and confirm that the beast is not real. Simon

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