What is Simon's role in the novel "Lord of the Flies"?

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Discuss Golding's presentation of Simon. What is his role within the novel?

Georgia Bron

In the novel 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding, Simon plays a very important part. He is constantly shown to be the Christ-like figure among the boys and he performs acts in the story that could be compared to acts from the bible. He is all goodness and proves this in good deeds, which are performed, at times, in the face of adversity from the other boys.

Simon’s character changes the novel from an adventure story to a story that depicts a battle between good and evil. This theme is one that was influenced by

Golding's own experiences of atrocities in World War II. When Simon is first introduced to the story he is marching in the choir. He makes a significant entrance when he faints as the choir arrives at the assembly platform. Jack, the leader of the choir, describes him as 'always throwing a faint'. He then carries on explaining the places the choir have sung in, where Simon has fainted; 'Gib, Addis and at Matins over the precentor'. Through the story Simon shows to have an illness because he faints or passes out several times, this could be epilepsy. Jack, in the novel tends to point this out to others, sees his faints as a weakness.

When Simon wakes he looks at Ralph, then introduces himself. Ralph needs someone else to go with him and Jack on an expedition round the island. Ralph chooses Simon. When Simon stands we are given a better description of him, he’s described as 'a skinny vivid little boy'. This description tells us how vulnerable Simon is, and that he is something very different from the other choirboys. When Ralph chooses Simon, we see Ralph has taken a liking to Simon already, and this friendship proves to be very valuable in the rest of the story. Now Ralph and Simon are both linked to ‘good’. The friendship proves to be a significant in their later confrontations in the novel with Jack.

Throughout the story Simon is kind and thoughtful. When Jack insults

Piggy, Simon tries to manipulate what Jack has said into a compliment. Simon also confronts Jack in acts of courage to help Piggy. One of these times is when Simon goes to Jack after Jack has taken Piggy's specs, and he takes them off Jack and returns them to Piggy. He then defends Piggy, when Jack is trying to convict Piggy of not helping to start the fire. Simon says 'We used his specs, he helped that way'. This shows that he has some affection and sympathy for

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Piggy the way Ralph does too.

In the novel, Simon's character is a Christ figure. All the other boys on the island have the secret 'inner evil', which only Simon can fight against. This 'inner evil' is William Golding's idea as to why people do evil things. The problem is that the evil would be totally out of your control. Some people only show small amounts of evil, and others would turn completely evil, like Roger or the Lord of the Flies itself. Simon is completely good because he has controlled his evil side down to a minimum. ...

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