Simon is different from the other boys not only due to his physical frailty, manifested in his fainting spells, but also in his “consistently expressed concern” for the more vulnerable boys. “Littluns follow him”, and he, Simon, finds “for them the fruit they could not reach”. It is interesting that Golding has chosen to present Simon in this way, as though he is almost a saint-like a figure, a much gentler and caring character than the other boys in the book and he is the only one from the original choir boys who has a good nature. As the novel develops is appears Golding has presented Simon as an allegory of Jesus, a pietist. Could this be to show he is a wider knowledge of human nature, like Jesus?
Jesus was immune to the normal acts of human nature in the bible and rarely showed a “bad” emotion, such as anger throughout the bible. This is extremely similar to the way that Golding presents Simon throughout “Lord of Flies”. Golding wrote Lord of the Flies because he wanted to explain to the world that to him humans are not influenced by bad nature but are bad naturally. He is trying to explain in this book that everyone has something dark inside them and that darkness is all the bad parts to humans including fear, anger and violence. In Lord of the Flies, the beast begins as a product of the boys’ imaginations and this is where Simon becomes very insightful into who the beast is he is the only one to “think the beast isn’t real” and just a figment of their imagination.
It is after this is the point where the reader starts to get an insight into the beast, via Simon, who insists that the beast is “only us.” This is an interesting comment, since the beast is literally “only us:” it’s a person that fell from the sky. In fact, when the twins list off the horrible attributes of the creature they saw, they reveal that it has both “teeth” and “eyes.” However we all do in fact have teeth and eyes, which shows that Simons comment of “only us” is actually true and the fact he was knowledgeable enough to recognise this shows that Golding has presented him as an incredibly insightful character much like Jesus is insightful into the evil in the world, Simon is presented as being insightful into the evils on the island.
The term "Lord of the Flies" is a direct translation of the name Beelzebub, which means a powerful demon thought to be the devil himself. The Lord of the Flies says to Simon, "What are you doing out here all alone? Aren't you afraid of me? There isn't anyone to help you. Only me. And I'm the Beast . This exchange between Simon and "The Lord of the Flies" closely resembles Jesus' forty days in the desert when he was tempted by the devil to abandon his mission. Jesus' death was followed by a large thunderstorm and solar eclipse. A natural phenomenon also occurred immediately following Simon's death when "the clouds opened and let down the rain like a waterfall" .As one can see, the accounts of the two deaths have great similarities which further illustrate Simon's portrayal as a Christ figure in the novel.
Simon is also described as being a very mysterious boy, for much of the novel he is unknown to the reader. The Reader does not always understand who Simon is as a character and he does not interact with very many people. He is described after some time as "a skinny, vivid little boy, with straight hair that hung down, black and course". By having hair that is long and flowing over his face Golding is symbolising mystery and secrecy. By using the cliché of black he knows that the reader will involuntarily assume that Simon is an incredibly solitary character as black is commonly associated with solidarity and mystery.
As is obvious Simon is portrayed as a Christ figure in The Lord of the Flies. First, Simon is generous and kind. Second, he is mysterious. And finally, his death parallels Christ's death. With the many similarities between Simon and Jesus Christ drawn from the novel, one can reasonably say that in some way or another Simon is represented as Christ in The Lord of the Flies to aid Golding in his aim to show the true nature of humans and man.