Simon is a very generous and helpful character, in that he treats everyone on the island equal to himself. When he is off in the jungle with the littluns he gets fruit off the trees for them, which they cannot reach. In chapter three Simon loyally stays with Ralph to finish building the shelters, while the other boys who were helping had run off to play before they were completed. On the top of the mountain, in chapter four, when Piggy tries to find his glasses, after Jack hit him, Simon helps Piggy get his glasses, standing up for Piggy in a sense.
“ Simon, sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it. ” Against Jacks authority Simon provides Piggy with the meat, which he was given, therefore putting Piggy before him. Simon is probably the most generous, kind and considerate boy on the island and puts the will of others before his own.
Simon is very much in touch with nature and his surroundings on the island. When Simon goes off on his own in the jungle Golding often describes the beautiful surroundings around him. In chapter nine, in the last paragraph, Golding talks about the planets and the stars, all very heavenly things, when describing Simon’s dead body. Small bright creatures surround his body by the waters edge. This is almost as if the creatures are holding a funeral service for him. The way Golding describes the event of Simon’s body being washed out to sea makes him appear spiritual and different.
Simon is a very harmonious character and, as previously stated in the last paragraph, very in touch with nature. He comes from a spiritual background, as a choirboy. When he is marching towards the platform in chapter one, with the choir, he faints and has to be carried the rest of the way.
““ He’s always throwing a faint, ” said Merridew. “ He did in Gib.; and Addis; and at matins over the precentor. ”” Jack explains how he is always fainting during prayers. This is an insight into how different and spiritually sensitive he is.
“” What I mean is . . . maybe it’s only us. ”” Simon is the only boy to grasp the idea that there actually is no beast and that the whole thing is within their minds. When the others hear this, their reaction is that it’s a stupid idea with no sense, replying, “” Nuts! ”“.
“ However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.” This builds upon the idea that the beast is within the boys. It is implying that within everyone there is innate sinfulness. Simon’s function is therefore to show us the connection between evil on the island and the real world.
Simon’s character comes to an end in chapter nine, when the other boys ritually murder him. He acts like a sacrificial lamb. The boys think that there is a beast on the island, which is a threat to them and needs to be dealt with. So when they kill Simon they are dealing with their fears, as they think they have killed the beast. After Simon is killed Ralph is very shameful of his actions, and the issue of the beast is forgotten. Therefore Simon was sacrificed for the beast. Simon’s role is almost ‘Jesus-like’, as his own people sacrifice him, for the there good will.
My conclusion is that Simon’s function on the island is to show the innate evil that the boys have within them and the devastation, which it can cause. His character implies that the spiritual world, which he was in touch with, goes beyond that of the suffering of mankind.