, Research Paper
Throughout Chapters six, seven, and eight, Golding focusing on Simon for being unique, and different from the other boys. He depicts Simon as a black sheep in which the other boy’s dislike. One such example is that the other boy’s are always making fun of him, and despite that, Simon never retaliates with returning verbal attacks. One big difference in Simon from the other boy’s, is that Simon does not fear the beast. Simon knows that beast is the evil within, but Simon is pure. Simon is also almost saintly, for instance, when Simon fed the little children, this is a saintly gesture. This also shows that Simon is the only one who isn’t concerned with just him, but he cares for the well being of the others too. Another example of Simon’s purity is when the Lord of the Flies tempts him. He falls unconsciously to avoid the persuasion and temptation of evil. Simon is the obvious fulcrum in the good and bad spectrum. On one end lay Ralph, and on the other end lay Jack.
One thing that Golding does is creating Simon as a Christ-like figure. Simon is the purest of all the boys. Simon does not follow orders, nor does he give them. He will not commit acts of violence, nor will he insult the boys who insult him. Golding is constantly giving Simon more and more Christ-like characteristics and traits. From the purity of his heart, to the Lord of the Files attempting to tempt him. Another thing Golding does often, is use the literary tool of symbolism. Almost all of the important aspects of the book involve symbolism. Simon symbolizes a Christ-like figure. The Lord of the Flies symbolizes the devil. When Simon fell unconscious, that represented the sacrifices that had to be made in order to overcome evil. The last major symbolism was Ralph and Simon climbing the rocks, in which Simon finished first. That was to show that although Ralph has leadership and power, Simon is the one who should be leading. He has the purity and the heart to do it. Another literary tool used by Golding is juxtaposition. Golding juxtaposes good and evil, Satan and Christ, life and death, reality and dreams, Heaven and Hell, and so on. The purpose of this was to show that the things that need to be done in order to survive must be accomplished through the opposite. For instance, The boy’s salvation (heaven) lies in the hands of the fire (hell) that will signal a rescue ship. Another instance is the Lord of the Flies (Satan) talking and tempting Simon (Christ), like what happened in the desert in which Christ was stuck in for forty days.
Golding purposely composes Simon as a Christ-like figure, but more importantly juxtaposes the pure good of Simon next to many forms of Evil. Among those evil forms lay fire, temptation, autocracy, killing, verbal blasting, beasts, and Satan. The main evil forms however lay in the fire, the autocratic rule, and the beast. First, the fire: The fire acts as a salvation from the evil island, freedom. To achieve freedom, one must use the powers of evil. The fire represents not only physical salvation, but also mental salvation for Simon as well. Simon must mentally overcome the fire’s salvation. He cannot be tempted by evil he must use his purity in order to obtain complete salvation. If Simon did fall to the dark forces of evil, he would surely be off the island or would he? He would live the remainder of his life pondering over what would have happened if he stuck with good. He fell for evil and because of it he never achieved mental salvation, his mind would forever live on the island. The next major evil is the autocratic rule imposed on by Ralph and Jack. They represent the very rulers who sent Christ to the hill to be crucified. They wanted complete control over the people and their beliefs, as do Jack and Ralph. They will send Simon to his grave, perhaps not on a cross, but they will send Simon to his final grave. Unfortunately, the good versus evil battles which are fought, will usually be won by bad in the beginning, and hopefully fall in the end. In history, Christ was killed when he was the good. Hitler killed the Jews, when Hitler was the evil one. Ralph and jack will kill Simon, when he is the good one. Through out history, it shows that in order for the bad to make themselves look good, they must destroy those who are really good. The last evil form I will focus on is the beast. The reason why Simon is never afraid of the beast, but the others are, is because, Simon is the beast. The beast is not really evil; he is viewed as evil. The beast is really the good, Simon, the purist of all. To the bad, the good is bad; thus Simon is viewed as the beast. Not a flying animal, or a huge squid, but the pure white heart of a human being is the real beast in the eyes of the evil. Not all the boys are evil, but if they follow the autocratic ways of Ralph or Jack, they have been corrupted by evil. In a sense, what are viewed as far as the beast, are complete opposites. The beast, which is viewed as bad, is in fact good. The bad now fears the good, where as usually the good fear the bad. It is one big paradox with good and evil. Why are the bad so fearsome of the beast which is good, since there is an overwhelming amount of the bad, opposed to just one pure good character? Perhaps evil knows, and has always known that good will prevail over evil, despite circumstances. I feel that evil fear the good beast only because it poses a threat to the autocratic rule of the evil island. In my opinion, Lord of the Flies creates a new Ying yang, one of all black (evil) and only one small dot of white (good). The black represents all the evil on the island, and the small white dot symbolizes Simon, the one small bit of pure white good. Despite the temptations and overwhelming amount of evil to good, the small bit of good will never give up. Good fights and lives until it is destroyed, but will never surrender over to the dark side. If the world should ever become this Ying yang, what will happen when the good is swallowed by the evil?