...Analysis of Simon as a Symbol Simon was a character of few words, but when he spoke, his comments were wise and important to the progression of the story. He strongly connected to nature and the figurative beast on the island. Along with this, his actions emulated those of a hero as he always tried to help others. In ‘Huts on the Beach’, Simon demonstrated his deep connection with nature as he: ‘walked with an accustomed tread’ (57) to his special place: ‘He came at last to a place where more sunshine fell. Since they had not so far to go for light the creepers had woven a great mat that hung at the side of an open space in the jungle; for here the patch of rock came close to the surface and would not allow more than little...
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...User- Friendly Guide The visual is to represent the symbolism and allegory of The Lord of the Flies. I choose to represent Simon who plays a contradicting aspect to the rest of the boys on the island. Golding suggests that all individuals have the power to strain humanity that can ultimately destroy civilization. Through Simon’s actions and thoughts we can conclude that he portrays genuine human goodness in society. As he lays on top of the sea after death it portrays that a scarce supply of good can be overwhelmed by the abundance of evil. I deliberately choose my caption for Simon to be “Destiney of Revelation” because he is one of the only boys to completely understand the truth about the beast. The reader witnesses Simon as a mystic when he prophesies to Ralph, “You’ll get back to where you came from.” (Golding, pg. 121) This shows that Simon has a superior knowledge above the boys about the revelations that exists. The time spent in isolation allows him to comprehend that the beast isn’t just a nightmare however man’s inherent cruelty and demand for dominance as “ … Man's essential illness. “ (pg.96) Golding gives knowledge to an outsider like Simon to reflect how individuals can be the destructive forces of civilization however it is not understood by the majority and is disregarded....
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...Evil is more of an intellectual concept than a true reality. Evil cannot be defined by a definition, but can be present in a situation. Simon is the only boy on the island to truly understand the meaning behind ‘the beast’, and how it represents all gruesome and evil aspects in mankind. He exemplifies a saint or a visionary on the island in Lord of the Flies. The role Simon plays is to simply exist between Jack and Ralph’s conflict, to be a peace-keeper when there is conflict amongst the group. Simon is a passive character whose role is to be a peace-keeper when conflict arises between Jack and Ralph. Simon seems to live between the conflict caused by Ralph and Jack, and his own thoughts. However, his kind and generous nature is evident through...
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...The theme of Lord of the flies is savagery versus civilization. Throughout the story, the boy’s face many challenges. While stranded, the boys have to learn how to survive. During this, some boys rose to the occasion while others became ruthless. When learning how to hunt, some of the boys get so into it, it is all they can think about. The need to kill the pig is their main desire. While the other boys try to find a way off the island. Ralph, Simon, and Piggy want to escape the madness and return to civilization. In William Golding’s book Lord of the flies, many symbols are used to represent the theme. The first symbol in the novel is Ralph. Ralph represents order. When the boys are stranded, Ralph decides that the boys need a leader. He thinks they need to establish rules so they can maintain order. When on the island, all the boys shout and argue. As a result, Ralph finds a conch shell; he blows into it to get the boys’ attention. He then makes a rule...
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...Although he is not considered one of the greatest characters presented in The Lord of the Flies, Simon is a smart, caring, and peaceful boy who plays a larger role than noted. He is commonly overlooked as one of the “good guys,” but these traits help prove Simon to be the wonderfully-shaped character he is. Simon is a deep intellectual, a caretaker of the littluns, and does his part in maintaining a conflict-free environment. He is made known as the boy who faints, “the choir boy who had fainted sat up against a palm trunk, smiled pallidly at Ralph and said that his name was Simon” (page 18.) ;When Golding first introduces him, he describes him as a “skinny, vivid little boy, with a glance coming up from under a hut of straight hair that...
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...When the killing of Piggy and Simon occur the boys ignore the fact that they are dead. They also avoid talking about that it was mostly their fault on both deaths. In Simon's standpoint his death was an unknown to an accident. The boys didn't look at his death as on purpose even though he could have been recognised. When they killed Simon they were absorbed inside the trance like dance. Therefore, the boys were not really conscious when they had originally killed them. Yet, after the ritual and the killing of Simon Piggy, Ralph, and Samneric leave back to their camp. Once Ralph starts preparing for a meeting Piggy comes to realize what they had done. No matter the topic they always would reconnect it to a game. “P’raps he was only pretending-”...
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...How does William Golding support his hypothesis of what could possibly happen on an island when humans and boys in particular are marooned there? You may consider setting, characterization, themes and/or symbolism you must incorporate quotes from the text to support your analysis. William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies shortly after the end of WWII. The novel's plot, in which a group of English boys end up stranded on a deserted island struggle to develop their own society, is a social and political thought-experiment using fiction. The story focuses on their attempts at civilization, devolution into savagery and violence puts the relationship between human nature and society under literary observation. Golding uses several allusions to human evolution, such as when the boys discover fire, craft tools, and form political and social systems in a process that recalled theories of the development of early man. Golding's hypothesis about humanity is pessimistic, that is, there are anarchic and brutal instincts in human nature. He displays this throughout his conveying of the setting, characterization, themes, and symbolism. The novel takes place on an un-known inhabited island in the Pacific Ocean, Immediately in the novel Golding reveals the instinct of the restricted human savagery in the boys in regard to the setting. “Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and open space of the scar” Page 10. Golding shows the...
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...Lord of the Flies William Golding Analysis of Major Characters Themes, Motifs & Symbols Ralph Ralph is the athletic, charismatic protagonist of Lord of the Flies. Elected the leader of the boys at the beginning of the novel, Ralph is the primary representative of order, civilization, and productive leadership in the novel. While most of the other boys initially are concerned with playing, having fun, and avoiding work, Ralph sets about building huts and thinking of ways to maximize their chances of being rescued. For this reason, Ralph’s power and influence over the other boys are secure at the beginning of the novel. However, as the group gradually succumbs to savage instincts over the course of the novel, Ralph’s position declines precipitously while Jack’s rises. Eventually, most of the boys except Piggy leave Ralph’s group for Jack’s, and Ralph is left alone to be hunted by Jack’s tribe. Ralph’s commitment to civilization and morality is strong, and his main wish is to be rescued and returned to the society of adults. In a sense, this strength gives Ralph a moral victory at the end of the novel, when he casts the Lord of the Flies to the ground and takes up the stake it is impaled on to defend himself against Jack’s hunters. In the earlier parts of the novel, Ralph is unable to understand why the other boys would give in to base instincts of bloodlust and barbarism. The sight of the hunters chanting and dancing is baffling and distasteful to him. As the novel progresses...
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...William Golding, in 1954, wrote the Lord of the Flies. Written after WWII portrays the inherent evil of mankind. Being evil is just easier than being good because there are no rules to follow and people get to do whatever one chooses to do, and a side effect of evil is power. Power then corrupts the brain into thinking people need it, then people just want more and more. All because of evil, respect then comes from fear, power comes from respect. Golding shows how evil and power is what corrupts the brains of the children on the island which makes them do horrible things that cause fear in the children. Evil is easy and because people get to do whatever they want, rules are the only things that contain evil within us and keep us human, Evil...
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...McCathren English 10 26 October 2014 Setting Analysis The forest in the book, Lord of the Flies, is the scariest place for all the boys in the book aside from Simon. During an assembly of the boys, Piggy attempts to interpret what a scared littlun says about his encounter with the beast. Piggy tells the crowd “‘A snake-thing. Ever so big. He saw it” Ralph replies, “‘Where?”’ The littlun tells him, “‘In the woods”’(42). The littluns already have their fair share of nightmares while they are on the island; nightmares about the native creatures on the island. After learning about the presence of the beast, the littluns become overly terrified of the forest and what it contains. Later, while Ralph, Jack, and others are searching for the beast in the forest, they actually discover what they believe to be the beast. The boys are walking in the dark “Then the wind roared in the forest, there was confusion in the darkness, and the creature lifted its head, holding toward them the ruin of a face”(172). Ralph and the others doubted the existence of the beast up until their encounter with it. This gut-wrenching encounter instills chilling terror in those to whom the boys describe the encounter, making the forest a feared presence for the bigguns, because it harbors the beast. The boys need someone to go across the island in the dark to deliver a message to Piggy. They are all too afraid to go except one boy. With great courage "Simon pushed his way to Ralph's elbow. ‘I'll go if you...
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...Analysis of the Major Characters In Lord of the Flies by William Golding In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements in English 140 Submitted by: Ryan Mark L. Catanio Submitted to: Prof. Donna Alna C. Cortez September 08, 2014 A. Author’s Biography William Golding Biography Author (1911–1993) a. Synopsis William Golding was born September 19, 1911, in Saint Columb Minor, Cornwall, England. In 1935 he started teaching English and philosophy in Salisbury. He temporarily left teaching in 1940 to join the Royal Navy. In 1954 he published his first novel, Lord of the Flies. In 1983, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. On June 19, 1993, he died in Perranarworthal, Cornwall, England. b. Early Life William Golding was born on September 19, 1911, in Saint Columb Minor, Cornwall, England. He was raised in a 14th-century house next door to a graveyard. His mother, Mildred, was an active suffragette who fought for women’s right to vote. His father, Alex, worked as a schoolmaster. William received his early education at the school his father ran, Marlborough Grammar School. When William was just 12 years old, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to write a novel. A frustrated child, he found an outlet in bullying his peers. Later in life, William would describe his childhood self as a brat, even going so far as to say, “I enjoyed hurting people.” After primary school, William went on to attend Brasenose College at Oxford University. His father hoped he would become...
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...In the midst of a raging war, a plane evacuating a group of schoolboys from Britain is shot down over a deserted tropical island. Two of the boys, Ralph and Piggy, discover a conch shell on the beach, and Piggy realizes it could be used as a horn to summon the other boys. Once assembled, the boys set about electing a leader and devising a way to be rescued. They choose Ralph as their leader, and Ralph appoints another boy, Jack, to be in charge of the boys who will hunt food for the entire group. Ralph, Jack, and another boy, Simon, set off on an expedition to explore the island. When they return, Ralph declares that they must light a signal fire to attract the attention of passing ships. The boys succeed in igniting some dead wood by focusing sunlight through the lenses of Piggy’s eyeglasses. However, the boys pay more attention to playing than to monitoring the fire, and the flames quickly engulf the forest. A large swath of dead wood burns out of control, and one of the youngest boys in the group disappears, presumably having burned to death. At first, the boys enjoy their life without grown-ups and spend much of their time splashing in the water and playing games. Ralph, however, complains that they should be maintaining the signal fire and building huts for shelter. The hunters fail in their attempt to catch a wild pig, but their leader, Jack, becomes increasingly preoccupied with the act of hunting. When a ship passes by on the horizon one day, Ralph and Piggy notice...
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...Lord of the Flies Full book report 1. A person’s behaviour is determined by several causes through out his life. The phase already begins when we are born. As a child we’re taught how to behave by our parents. Later on our teachers and surroundings influence our behaviour towards a more and more civilized one. In a society we’re kept as civilized as possible by following rules and laws. If we as human beings are placed away from a society, will we be able to maintain our civilized characters, or will we become savaged barbarians? This is the theme William Golding creates in his novel The Lord of the Flies from 1954. Golding takes his readers on a journey, where he shows what mankind is capable of doing through youngsters. The question is: can the young kids maintain civilization? 2.c. The Lord of the Flies is a novel about a group of young boys who crash on an island. While they’re stuck on the island they manage to establish some order and civilization by choosing a leader and by using a conch shell to arrange meetings between the boys. The established civilization crumbles as the book goes on because some of the boys can’t control their animalistic qualities. The boys waddle between the human instinct of savagery and the civilized ways of order, which they’re taught from home. Despite the fact that they try to establish order they become more and more drawn towards savagery throughout the book. The sow’s head and the conch shell are both symbols of power, but...
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...a person. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of British boys are stranded on an island, without any any adults, after their plane crashes. Amongst the boys, some, such as Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are rational and still have their minds and bodies invested in being rescued. The other’s, under the command of Jack Merridew, have let rumours of of a beast, and a blind, burning, passion to hunt fog their minds leaving only the lust for savagery...
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...This instance per se is the point in which a significant divide is formed between the more civilized, moral boys e.g. Ralph, Piggy, Simon and the less civilized, primitive boys e.g. Jack, Roger. This instance foreshadows the future gang of Jack’s of whom are more interested in hunting and satisfying their heinous, sadistic natures rather than in being rescued and returning to civilization. Though the fire is used to show civilization and the boys’ link to it, its main effect is to show the antithesis of...
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