Explore the importance of the character Simon in "Lord of the Flies".

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Lord of the Flies

- William Golding

By Devesh Amar

Explore the importance of the character Simon in “Lord of the Flies”

   William Golding was born and brought up in the early 1900’s in England, where he lead a well educated childhood under the guidance of his scientific and rational parents. But his parent’s influence was often in vain, as the darkness and unknown created a barrier of irrational thoughts.

   He then went on to serve the Royal Navy during the Second World War (1939-1945), where he experienced for himself the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis, the dropping of the first atom bomb and the cruelty and brutality of combat.

   These memories had obviously touched Golding, who expressed this change by his pessimistic view that “anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head.”

   After the war, Golding resumed his normal profession of teaching at a boy’s school in Salisbury, after which he wrote and published his first book in 1954- “Lord of the Flies”. This was based on the plot of R.M. Ballantyne’s text “The Coral Island”. The same plot is used by Golding, in which three boys have been shipwrecked on an island, but eventually escape death from vicious cannibals because of their miraculous conversion in Christians.

   But Golding wanted to express to the world how real boys would act in these circumstances, thus he wrote this novel, in which he expresses his thoughts that “evil doesn’t come from outside; it is inside all of us.” This narrative is an adventure story about a group of boys who are unfortunately marooned on a deserted island on one level, but can be seen as an allegorical fable at another level, displaying the physical explorations of life created by Hobbs and Rousseau and even using representational characters, locations and events to explore each of theirs and Golding’s ideas.

   On one hand, Hobbs believed that mankind would deteriorate unless it were under the influence of rules and punishment, while on the other hand, Rousseau believed that mankind was “the noble savage” and would always act democratically.

   As mentioned earlier, each character represented a part of society and also drew on figures of historical and religious importance. Simon, like all of the characters in this narrative, represents a certain complex idea, which with the help of his characteristics, his interaction with others, his reaction to significant events and symbolism is explained to the reader.

   At first, Simon is seen to be a curios and timid member of the dictatorial Jack Merridew’s choir, who appear in a discipline fashion, “marching in approximately in step in two parallel lines.” Their uniform is black and they are ordered around by their leader Jack, who sternly gives them orders. This group contain lots of references to Hitler and his Nazis, their “black clothes” being juxtaposed with the “fair hair” of Ralph.

   Here Simon flopped face first into the sand, with their cold and cruel leader insisting that “He’s always throwing a faint.” Golding uses physical appearance to highlight the human weakness of judging a person by his looks, as Simon’s physical inertness represents his human vulnerability and importantly highlights the ruthless nature of Jack. Here the reader is made to feel sympathy for him when he is confronted by Merridew’s lack of understanding and concern. Later in the text, Simon is for the first time described as an individual in the text, in a negative fashion as a “skinny little boy”, his weakness explaining his frequent faints, which is juxtaposed with the description of Ralph who is “like a boxer”.

  This description of Simon is created when he is picked by Ralph, their elected leader, to join him and Jack for a first exploration of the piece of land they were on. As they begin to end their exploration, they come across a patch of dark, evergreen, aromatic shrubs, to which Simon referred to as “Candle bushes. Candle buds.” His significance as an individual character is first described here, as he produces a very pacifying and  mollifying description, which even captivates and intrigues the brutal Jack, who’s attempts to kill a harmless piglet are held back by the developed conscience of his, influenced by the nurture of his parents.

   As the narrative progresses, the other characters- Ralph, Piggy and Jack, display their personal qualities and how they are developing to stand for different symbols in their microcosm. Ralph, the book's protagonist, stands for civilization, morality, and leadership, while Jack, the antagonist, stands for the desire for power, selfishness, and amorality. Piggy represents the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization, as his glasses—a symbol of rationality and intellect—enable the boys to light fires, both for heat and to attract rescuers.

   Despite his usefulness, Piggy is seen to be as a whiny weakling, who’s useful suggestions are often ignored. For example, when Piggy suggests that they find a way to improve their chances of being rescued, the boys ignore him; only when the stronger and more charismatic Ralph suggests the same thing do they agree to make the signal fire. Their disorganisation finally leads to a death of a little boy, which is a foreboding precursor to the careless events to come.

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   Then in Chapter 3, we realise that the conflict between Ralph and Jack symbolizes the main conflict of the novel, with Ralph representing civilization and the desire for order and Jack representing savagery and the desire for power and self-gratification. In addition to the development of the Ralph/Jack conflict and the continued development of the boys' island civilization, the emergence of Simon as a symbolic figure is another important development in Chapter 3. Simon's basic characteristics become clear from his actions in this chapter, firstly he is seen as the only boy who builds the huts along with ...

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