Simon is a young boy who is one of the main characters that the book Lord of the Flies revolves around. During the first few chapters of the book we do not really see the character and his appearance in scene though as the book goes on we start to learn more about him.
We should realise that on this island that these schoolboys are stranded on, he is neither, as they say, a 'biggun' or a 'littlun' but between them, meaning Simon is of middle age compared to the rest. This is an important fact, which we should take into consideration when understanding Simon and his role in the Lord of the Flies.The first time that this fact of his age plays a role is at the end of Chapter One. At this moment we realise that Simon is left out and rejected by Ralph, we can see that he is desperate for a role in this society and is not able to achieve that goal. The largest point that we can make about Simon is that he is shown as a prophet in this book. During Chapter Three, there is a conflict between Jack and Ralph, which shows that they cannot get along.
Simon here sees the intensity of their conflict. He interoperates everything here and understands the relationship of these two opposing forces.He can foretell the danger that will come from this. Later in Chapter Three, Simon once again acting as a prophet helps out the littluns by reaching high up for the fresh fruit to pass down to the littuns. We never see another character during the book that replicates the caring actions of Simon.
It says, '... Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands' (page 71).
He acts as a prophet feeding the hungry and helping them out.In Chapter Four, we see again the caring side of his character when he helps out Piggy. Here, (page 89), Piggy is being bullied by Jack for his spectacles they fly off his face and onto some rocks where we see Simon retrieving them for him. Simon helps the needy here and the one who needs help is Piggy.
During the end of this Chapter they cook the pig and Jack refuses to give any share of the meat to Piggy because Piggy did not help in the killing of the pig. Piggy answers back my stating that people like Simon did not help in the killing.Jack ignores him and instead, Simon being of the caring and thoughtful kind shares his part of the meat with Piggy. Jack becomes angry here and in anger passes some more meat to Simon. It says, 'Simon, sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it. ' Also, 'Then Jack leapt to his feet, slashed off a great hunk of meat and flung it down to Simon's feet.
"Eat! Damn you! "' (Page 92). In Chapter Six, Simon has a vision of the beast as a human being heroic and sick. This is completely different to the ideas of the rest of the group on the island.He thinks logically and uses his initiative, which I think is the one of the key things with his 'prophet' idea that separates him from the group (page 128). Simon is a mature and sensible person. In Chapter Seven, we find out that Simon cares for all, as a person even people who he thinks are 'bad' just like a prophet.
Here, he helps out Jack with his wound, which even deepens our understanding of this care. He has the quality of being a follower and in that way reassures Ralph about the problems on the island and thoughts about being rescued.He understands Ralph's state of mind and understands the future (page 137) Also one of the most important points in this Chapter is to realise that Simon does not take part in 'The Game' where they pretend Robert is a pig and in doing so hurt him quite severely. During Chapter Eight, Simon experiences a feeling of the present situation and explores the truth about the beast (page 177). Here he speaks to the Lord of the Flies, which is where we get the name of the book from, thus this is a very important moment.
The Lord of the Flies reveals the future to him and we realise that 'He is not supposed to have fun on this island. ' The shock of this causes him to have a fit and he lays there restless for some time. This incident proves even more of his character as a prophet. At Chapter Nine, Simon wakes up ill from the fit and he coughs up some blood. He forces himself up to the top of the mountain to seek the truth about the beast. From here we learn how strong, firm and brave of a character he really is.
Simon resists to take the temptation of the easy way out by going up to the top.He is described as 'the poor body' (page 181). We learn that Simon has a sense of compassion and releases it from the lines that hold it. On page 188 its says 'do him in' this proves the prophecy from before. It is a paradox.
During page 190 the idea of the fact that Simon is a like a prophet is revealed to us. Simon's body is transfigurated just like what happens to some prophets in the Bible. It says, 'The water rose further and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble.Golding controls our feelings of what he does and how he is treated by the way he describes him and the sort of language he uses to do so.
Golding describes him always with a sense of good in him and has never described him for doing anything wrong or evil. By doing this we always have the picture of Simon in our mind as a good person compared to the likes of Jack. Golding uses the language that would describe Simon as a prophet. He makes us feel from the actions of Simon that he is a loving, caring, sensible and thoughtful person willing to help all.
