Simon symbolizes goodness. He is a gentle-hearted person.
He takes the time to feed the littluns. He symbolizes the Christ figure in his goodness.
The small children cannot reach the fruit as well as Simon. Simon takes the time to pick
the fruit for the littluns:
He kindly helps the younger boys get
fruit.
Simon also is
supportive of Ralph. He helps Ralph build the shelters when many of the boys would not
contribute their time. Also, Simon meditates. He has his own special place on the island
where he spends much of his time alone, meditating. He is intuitive by nature. He is the
first to realize that the beast is a dead parachutist hanging from a tree. He also
realizes that the beast is within man. Earlier, he tried to convey that to the boys but
no would listen to him. He represents a Christ-like image in which no one will listen as
he tries to share his goodness:
Simon tries to suggest that the only beast on the
island is in themselves; however, no one
listens.
Later, he has an
encounter with the pig's head and realizes that the beast lives within the
boys:
The most
intuitive of all, he is the first to realize through a vision that the beast is “human
at once heroic and
sick.”
Rushing to share what
he has learned with the boys, he comes out of the forest to meet a angry mob of boys
caught up in a hunting dance frenzy. The boys attack Simon and kill him with their bare
hands and teeth:
At the height of the party, a storm breaks and
Simon arrives to tell them that there is no beast. In a frenzy, they kill
Simon.
Simon's death is as a
sacrificial death, much like the Christ-like scene before the actual Crucifixion. Simon
represents a Christ-like figure. He is a picture of gentle goodness. He is reflective
and intuitive. He dies an awful death and his body returns to the sea. His death makes
Ralph more aware of the dangers that exist within Jack and his hunters. His death opens
Ralph's eyes.
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