“Now that the pallor of his faint was over, he was a skinny, vivid little boy, with a glance coming up from under a hut of straight hair that hung down, black and coarse”
Innocent
“every now and then Simon had to do a double shuffle to catch up with the others”
Simon set apart from others
What does Simon represent?
- A christ-like figure, religious purity
- Truth, innocence, the (little) true good in humanity
“You’ll get back to where you came from”
- Predicting the future
- As if he knows he will not get off the island but Ralph will
- Similar to Jesus prophesying his own death
Simon was ‘tempted’ by the Lord of the Flies
“There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast”
Similar to Jesus being tempted by the devil during his 40 days in the desert
Adjectives used to describe Simon such as ‘batty’, ‘queer’, ‘funny’, and ‘cracked’
Shown to be an outsider but, unlike Piggy, less known why
‘Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind’s essential illness. Inspiration came to him. “What’s the dirtiest thing there is?”’
- Cannot verbally express evil shows his innocence
- Physically and mentally detached from evil
‘The beast was harmless and horrible.’
- Juxtaposition
- Beast not fully good or evil, similar to humanity
‘In Simon’s right temple, a pulse began to beat on the brain.’
- Simon is portrayed as individual, perspective and almost prophetic in nature, but he is weak and frail in body
How is Simon similar to Jesus?
- He is the only one to confront the Lord of the Flies (the titular character of the book!), who symbolises evil itself
- He is murdered when bringing the truth back to the other boys, just as Jesus was bringing the ‘truth’ to the people.
‘Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth. There was a blackness within, a blackness that spread.’
- Foreshadows his death
- Evil overwhelming
“Surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations”
- Simon returns to nature
- Seen as serene and peaceful after frenzied murder
