Morals vs. Instinct in "The Lord of the Flies" by William Golding

In addition to his actions, Simon’s encounter with evil further characterizes him as a Christ figure and an oracle archetype. The novel’s title, Lord of the Flies, originates from a mistranslation of Beelzebub, another name for the devil. The sacrificed sow head on a spear, called the Lord of the Flies, symbolizes the devil. Since Simon’s confrontation with the Lord of the Flies occurs in the midst of a delusion, it can be considered a prophecy similar to an oracle’s vision. Both Christ and Simon meet with the devil while in altered physical states. Simon’s confrontation with the Lord of the Flies is a result of severe dehydration and an epileptic fit indicated by “a pulse [that] began to beat on the brain” which parallels Christ’s meeting with the devil during the forty days he went into the wilderness without food or drink (Golding 138). In his vision, Simon realizes that “things are what they are” because

The forest where Simon wanders upon in earlier in the novel symbolizes this loss of innocence. At first, it is a place of natural beauty and peace, but when Simon returns, he discovers the bloody sow’s head upon a stake in the middle of the forest. This use of imagery depicting ruin is seen in the passage. “Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth. There was blackness within, a blackness that spread” (pg. 144). The bloody offering to the beast has disrupted the paradise that existed before; a clear

During the meeting where the boys are questioning the reality of the beast, Simon says this,”What I mean is...maybe it’s only us”(Golding 89). While everyone else is debating on whether or not the beast is real, Simon is trying to propose that the actual beast is the boys themselves in the form of their savage impulses. Simon is the first character in the novel to see the beast as the evil nature of humans instead of a physical being. The Lord of the Flies confirms Simon’s thought, saying,”Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!...You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close!”(Golding 143). This establishes that the only thing to fear on the island is the evil human instinct inside of

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an allegory that explores the instinctual evil humans possess and how this evil manifests into our societies. The book demonstrates this through young boys who are stranded on an island due to a plane crash. Despite their best efforts, the lack of adult guidance inhibits the boys from maintaining an orderly society. The boys turn to their survival instincts, many of which are evil. The lack of order exposes the internal savagery within the boys, resulting in an understanding of the flaws within all humanity. The Lord of the Flies uses the innocence of young boys to show the societal impact of human errors through their lack of adult supervision, the desire to inflict violence, and the need for authority over others.

The tragedies that unfold their civilization occur when they brutally beat Simon to death. After Jack and his hunters place the mother sow’s head in the forest as an offer to the beast they think exists, Simon encounters it and sees that it is covered in flies. Suddenly, the head started to talk to Simon as he feels like he is going to faint. It identifies itself to be the Lord of the Flies. It says, “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?” (Golding 158). Simon then realizes that there is no physical beast, but a mental beast in each and every boy on the island. They all went from being joyful to a bunch of savages. Their

Simon was the only person in the book who interacted with the so-called beast. He saw that the physical form of the beast as the Lord of the Flies, a sow's head on a stick. Fear would have been struck through Simon as he heard the pig say: "There isn't anyone to help you only me. I'm the beast." Simon tried to run back to the camp but he came at the wrong time and was mistaken as the beast and was brutally

“There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast--Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! Said the head. You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s a no go? Why things are the way they are?” (page 206)

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is tale of a group of young boys who become stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes. Intertwined in this classic novel are many themes, most that relate to the inherent evil that exists in all human beings and the malicious nature of mankind. In The Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the boys' gradual transformation from being civilized, well-mannered people to savage, ritualistic beasts.

The appearance of Simon in the novel The Lord of the Flies is of great significance and is substantial for the development of the story because he made lots of points in the story. First of all, it is important to state that he sent simple, yet deep messages throughout the novel, with morals behind them. Religiously speaking, Simon can be identified as the Christ-figure in the story. Simon also had a very specific role in the novel in being the character in contact with nature. Simon's significance in the story is obvious, and one way to deduce this is by identifying his messages.

group, did not allow Piggy to eat as he did not hunt with them. We

Golding also draws a parallel between Simon and Jesus Christ. When Simon converses with the Lord of the Flies, an equivalent to Satan, the Lord of the Flies told Simon, “We are going to have fun on this island! So don’t try it on, my poor misguided boy, or else- Or else, we shall do you? See? Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph. Do you” (143). In this conversation, the Lord of the Flies seems to tempt Simon to not interfere in the release and spread of savagery by threatening him with the fact that he will be killed by his own comrades if he does not embrace savagery. Also, Simon is able to even predict his own death if he were to die from attempting to prevent the spread and descent of the boys into savagery.

At the end of chapter nine in The Lord of the Flies, William Golding utilizes figurative language to establish Simon as a Jesus figure, who dies and becomes released from his suffering. After Simon's realization that what the boys believe is the beast is instead a dead man with a blue parachute, he returns to the other boys to tell them that the beast they imagine on the island is fictitious. During a stormy night, the boys create a barbaric circle where they repetitively dictate a chant in order to summon the beast so that they have the opportunity to kill it. Because they mistake Simon as a beast as he attempts to tell them of his discovery of the dead man, Simon is forcefully pulled into the center of the boys'

Even though Golding had an enormous amount of symbols throughout his novel, Simon is the first to recognize the complication posed by the beast and the “Lord of the Flies” that is, that the monster on the island is not a real, physical beast, but rather a savagery that lurks within each and every human being. As a final point, the loss of social structure within civilization can lead to the demise of the boys on the island whether it's between Ralph vs Jack, the boys vs the island, or even Simon vs

In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Simon represents the innate morality of humans, acting as a Christ-like figure, while Roger embodies the all present cruelty and inherent sadism of individuals. Throughout the novel, Simon remains unchanged in terms of morality, as others slowly turn to savagery and hunting, as can be seen when Jack’s group become, “demoniac figures with faces of white and red and green.” Instead Simon finds a quiet spot “in a little cabin screened off from the open space by a few leaves.” By “holding his breath, he [cocks] a critical ear at the sounds of the island,” using his secret cabin to meditate. Coupled with his deep connection to nature, Simon is revealed to be a Christ figure. When left alone with the

In William Golding’s novel “ Lord of the Flies” as readers, we learn that in stressful situations we are prone to become angry and aggressive. Jack and some boys went on a hunt to find and kill a boar so they could leave a gift for the best so it would leave them alone as a sign of peace. So Jack finds and stamps this sow and follow it, the narrator states, “This Dreadful eruption from an unknown world made her frantic, she squealed and bucked and the air was full of sweat and noise and blood and terror... The spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high pitch scream. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hand. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her”(Golding pg.135).This quote shows how Jack and the other boys have convinced themselves that there is a beast on the island trying to kill them. They decide to leave it a gift so it could leave them alone. This shows that under the stress of trying to survive on this island they scared themselves into believing that there is a beast coming after them. After viciously killing the boar for the “beast” they go back to camp but Simon still is gone and hasn't returned yet. He was in the jungle hiding right next ware they killed the boar. He starts to hallucinate and passes out. Later on, he becomes conscious and starts climbing the mountain to see if there is actually a "beast". After finding out it was a dead man that has been tangled and looked