There are different ideas of where the beast could be. A Littl’un thinks he has seen it in the forest, but this is found to be Simon. The next Littl’un declares it is “ beast from the water”. The first physical representation of the beast, which convinces the boys it is real, occurs in chapter 6. A man is shot down from a fighter plane and lands, dead, trapped by his parachute on some rocks. The parachutist falling is a significant part of the novel in itself, it represents the end of adult supervision. It possesses a powerful image of prolonged death and becomes, to the boys, the beast. It also reminds us of the war going on in the real world. The wind lifts the parachute, moving the body up and down. This image is seen by Samneric who run away terrified to tell the rest of the boys about the “beast from the air”. Jack sees this moving creature, but no one has the courage to check it is alive. The next image the boys believe to be the beast is Simon, who they attack and kill. However even after Simon is dead the beast still brings fear to them, and the nightmares continue.
Simon is different to the other boys, he has a special connection with the beast- the parachutist- The Lord of the Flies, which are all one in each other. The events that surround him and his moral confrontation with The Lord of the Flies- or the beast are the most important in the book, being the basis of the theme of the novel. It symbolizes man’s incapability to conquer the devil. Simon talks to The Lord of the flies or the beast represented at this point by a sow’s head. It is partly conversation, partly “message” from unknown. The Lord of the Flies confirms Simon’s belief that the beast is inside of everyone. “ Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” It says that everyone would rather have fun than worry about things. When Simon finds the parachutist dead and the beast alive, as the Lord of the Flies prophesized, Simon has a nervous breakdown. He is killed before he can tell the truth of the beast to the boys.
The beast effects the other boys by the fear it makes them feel. The Littl’uns have nightmares about it. The beast controls the boys, in the feelings they have and actions they make. The beast does not change the boys, it merle brings out the darker side of them which was there all along, only restrained by the confines of regulated society. If the beast represents the evil residing in all the boys it could be said that Jack and Roger, as the leaders and symbols of savagery and wrongdoing, have more of the beast inside them than the other boys.
The effect the beast has upon the boys is to descend them into savagery, it brings them into the natural chaos of a society with no adults. Golding uses the effect of the beast to represent his belief that men are inherently evil. If left alone to fend for themselves men will revert back to their savage roots of ancestors. This is seen at the end of the novel, in the hunting of Ralph. Golding said the theme of the book was to trace problems of society back to the sinful nature of man. Political systems, he believed, can not govern society without taking into consideration to defects of human nature, governments were an ineffective way of keeping people together.
