Simon Lord Of The Flies Essay

778 Words4 Pages
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the character of Simon is one that plays a big role in the story, and is used throughout the novel to indicate certain underlying messages about society to the reader. Simon is often viewed as a symbol of Jesus Christ (although lots of people would disagree with this), but is generally seen as an insightful, wise, spiritual type of character, representing the good of society and those who expose and confront the evils of human nature. Simon’s characterization is one that changes over the course of the book, altering the reader’s perception of him throughout the story greatly. Simon’s character is used in the story to represent peace, tranquility, and general optimism among the children and in society. He is very spiritual and naturalistic, and he has a type of connection with the island — he is often off by himself so that he can be alone with the nature, and occasionally he will experience extraordinary sensations when he is “in touch” with the island. Eventually, the death of Simon would come to be a symbol of the loss of honesty and innocence on the island.…show more content…
This is originally shown in the first chapter, when Simon faints in the heat: “Then one of the boys flopped on his face in the sand and the line broke up” (Golding 20). Because of this, Simon is portrayed as weak — as a character who is going to hold everyone back, so he is not well respected among the children at the beginning of the book. This quickly changes, however, starting when Simon is chosen by Ralph to explore the island with himself and Jack. This puts Simon in a spot of leadership, by placing him (and therefore his social status) among the two most respected people on the island, Jack and Ralph. From that point on in the book, Simon is generally an ally of everyone on the island, and is certainly not an enemy to
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