Simon

Key Quotes:
'Passions beat about Simon on the mountain-top with awful wings'- P.75. Simon picks up Piggy's glasses that have been knocked off by Jack and in doing so shows his innate goodness that none of the other boys possess. Passions could refer to the strong, uncontrollable savage emotions that are around Simon and the phrase 'awful wings' links these emotions to animalistic behaviour. These 'passions beat' Simon as if he is upset by the wickedness of humanity. Alternatively passions can refer to the suffering and death of Christ and so this could link Simon to Christ, at the very least in a comparison of his goodness.

'maybe there is a beast...maybe its only us'- P.95-96. Simon recognises that the only beast on the island is the evil within each boy but becomes 'inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness.' Golding uses this to show the evil within humanity, only Simon is innately good, all the other boys are civilised at the beginning of the novel because of the social control exerted over them previously. As the book develops all the boys, bar Simon and Piggy, become more savage due to their innate evil. Piggy dosen't become savage due to his vast intellect, its only Simon who's good because he believes in doing what's right. If we think of the book in biblical terms the fact Simon, who could be compared to Jesus, is unable to spread his message of truth could aim to a parody bible, i.e. that Jesus wouldn't be listened to and therefore the bible has no credibility, due to the fact good is in such scarcity compared to evil within humans that evil will always triumph over good.

'You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?'- P.158. Simon meets the Lord of the Flies, which we assume to be a hallucination. Simon has gone mad, by keeping his goodness, his 'humanity' he has lost his sanity. Lord of the Flies translates to Beelzebub which is another name for the devil, however he claims to be 'part of you.' Literally the Lord of the Flies is the stow's head left as a sacrifice to the beast, this then becomes 'the beast' showing it is the actions of the boys that have created the beast and as such they are the beast, destroying themselves and everything around them. By putting the 'devil' against Simon, who represents innate goodness, it is literally a battle of good against evil. However Simon appears to be at the mercy of the Lord of the Flies who foreshadows his death 'we shall do you'. The 'we' refers to the boys and emphasises the fact that the beast is part of human nature. Unlike in the bible evil triumphs over good.

'Simon was crying out something about a dead man a hill'- P.168. The LOTF's threat becomes a reality when the boys mistake Simon for the beast and kill him, ironic as he is the only one of them who isn't, in some way, the beast. With his dying words Simon tries to tell them the truth about the Beast he discovered at the beginning of the chapter (page 162) he discovers 'The beast was harmless and horrible; and the news must reach the others as soon as possible.' Simon tries to prevent the boys turning to savagery and following Jack due to a threat that dosen't really exist. In fact the threat isn't the beast itself but the threat of the beast that Jack uses to control the boys. Simon's death is symbolic of the victory of evil over good, of truth over manipulation, of savagery over kindness. Like Jesus he dies trying to save others, but unlike Jesus his sacrifice yields no salvation for the rest of humanity, only more pain.

Significance in book/purpose:
Simon represents innate human goodness and, as such, the lack of respect (see P.141) he receives from the other boys suggests how little people care about doing the right thing. Instead they follow first Ralph, who provides pragmatic, civilised leadership, the Jack, who leads through fear. Simon's death is a clear symbol of humanity's evil. In addition if the book is to be read from a biblical perspective he is a key character. In such a reading the island represents the Garden of Eden which is 'scarred' by the plane crash and turned into a sort of hell through human wickedness, symbolised by the island going up in flames at the end of the novel. Simon is the antithesis of the Lord of the Flies and their confrontation mirrors a meeting between Jesus and the devil. However the book can be read at a deeper level than a re-hashing of the bible. Simon's defeat in his quest to reveal the truth is a victory of evil over good and of humanities need to create demons to hide the ones they harbour within themselves.

	Created by harry.vinall about 10 years ago

GCSE English Lit (Lord of the Flies) Note on LOTF- Characters and symbols, created by harry.vinall on 01/05/2014.

LOTF- Characters and symbols