What qualities of character does Simon possess and how does Golding control our feelings of what he does and how he is treated?

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Lord of the Flies - Fahid Ali Div O

What qualities of character does Simon possess and how does Golding control our feelings of what he does and how he is treated?

Simon is a young boy who is one of the main characters that the book Lord of the Flies revolves around. During the first few chapters of the book we do not really see the character and his appearance in scene though as the book goes on we start to learn more about him. We should realise that on this island that these schoolboys are stranded on, he is neither, as they say, a 'biggun' or a 'littlun' but between them, meaning Simon is of middle age compared to the rest. This is an important fact, which we should take into consideration when understanding Simon and his role in the Lord of the Flies. The first time that this fact of his age plays a role is at the end of Chapter One. At this moment we realise that Simon is left out and rejected by Ralph, we can see that he is desperate for a role in this society and is not able to achieve that goal.

The largest point that we can make about Simon is that he is shown as a prophet in this book. During Chapter Three, there is a conflict between Jack and Ralph, which shows that they cannot get along. Simon here sees the intensity of their conflict. He interoperates everything here and understands the relationship of these two opposing forces. He can foretell the danger that will come from this. Later in Chapter Three, Simon once again acting as a prophet helps out the littluns by reaching high up for the fresh fruit to pass down to the littuns. We never see another character during the book that replicates the caring actions of Simon. It says, '...Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands' (page 71). He acts as a prophet feeding the hungry and helping them out. In Chapter Four, we see again the caring side of his character when he helps out Piggy. Here, (page 89), Piggy is being bullied by Jack for his spectacles they fly off his face and onto some rocks where we see Simon retrieving them for him. Simon helps the needy here and the one who needs help is Piggy. During the end of this Chapter they cook the pig and Jack refuses to give any share of the meat to Piggy because Piggy did not help in the killing of the pig. Piggy answers back my stating that people like Simon did not help in the killing. Jack ignores him and instead, Simon being of the caring and thoughtful kind shares his part of the meat with Piggy. Jack becomes angry here and in anger passes some more meat to Simon. It says, 'Simon, sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it.' Also, 'Then Jack leapt to his feet, slashed off a great hunk of meat and flung it down to Simon's feet. "Eat! Damn you!"' (Page 92).
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In Chapter Six, Simon has a vision of the beast as a human being heroic and sick. This is completely different to the ideas of the rest of the group on the island. He thinks logically and uses his initiative, which I think is the one of the key things with his 'prophet' idea that separates him from the group (page 128). Simon is a mature and sensible person. In Chapter Seven, we find out that Simon cares for all, as a person even people who he thinks are 'bad' just like a prophet. Here, he helps out ...

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