Simon Flashcards
3 short quotations that the other boys say about Simon to show he’s different
“He’s funny”
“He’s queer”
“He’s cracked”
Initial description of Simon
“S_____, v____ little boy”
“Skinny, vivid little boy”
Simon’s physical weakness
“Always throwing…
…a faint”
“Simon found for the…
…fruit they could not reach” (C3)
- compassionate, innately good
- allusions to Christ
“If Simon walks in the middle of us” said Ralph, “then…
…we could talk over his head”
- unacknowledged
Simon prophesizes the future
“You’ll get back to…
…where you came from”
- links to Jesus
- he says “you” - perhaps implying he doesn’t return
“Simon became inarticulate to…
…express mankind’s essential illness” (C5)
- terrifying concept
- highlights the difficulty of comprehending the potential evil within mankind
“What I mean is… maybe it’s…
…only us”
- “only” underestimates the level of evil humans inflict
- ironic that no one listens because he is right - maybe that means that if he didn’t die, they wouldn’t have believed him anyways
What creature is Simon associated/ appears with throughout the novel, and what do they symbolise?
Butterflies - symbolise HOPE
“A g_____ pair of b__________” in chapter 3 “still d_______” in chapter 9 (Simon’s death)
“A gaudy pair of butterflies”
“Still danced”
“The butterflies danced in the middle…
…their unending dance” (C8)
- what Simon sees
- always hope
What does Simons death symbolise?
The end of truth
What Simon sees when he looks into the mouth of the Lord of the Flies
“There was a blackness within…
…a blackness that spread” (C8)
- metaphor of the boys
The LOTF foreshadows and almost prophesizes Simon’s death
“We shall do you? See? Jack and Roger and…
…Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph”
- the LOTF threatens to kill Simon if he attempts to stop the release of savagery
Connotations to Christ’s death:
“Kill the Beast! Cut his…
…throat! Spill his blood!”
- killed by his own kind
“The mouth of a new circle…
…crunched and screamed” C9
- mob mentality
- circle imagery - united by the desire to kill
“Simon’s dead body moved out…
…toward the open sea” C9
- peaceful and beautiful
- compare to Piggy’s death
What can we say about Simon and the fact he is washed AWAY from the island
- it is very much like a baptism - after his death, he is washed away
- he doesn’t stay on the island - he is too good and pure for the sinful island so he leaves
“His face was g_______” - C1
“Glowing”
- very saint-like
- he gets along well with Ralph and Jack
What does he say to the boys when he thinks the beast is them?
“What I mean is … maybe it’s only us”
repetition of “maybe” and elipsis shows hesitation
“The littluns who had run…
…after him caught up with him”
Followers - like Christ
