Notes

Jesse Paulsen
Foster
Honors English Ⅱ, Period Ⅲ
1 December 2021
Main
Evil will always overshadow good in times of crisis. Incessantly attempting to escape his mind, Simon—a force of good—is internally impaled by the presence of a morally depraved figure of deceptive, foul proceedings; the overshadowing existence of evil. Simon, an often-misunderstood, timid child, represents the kindness of humanity. The Lord of the Flies—a deceased pig of miscellaneous representations—is an overarching theme of evil and fear. In the book, Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the contrast between the Lord of the Flies and Simon to develop the idea that humanity is innately cruel and unjust.

As Simon endures a seizure, he witnesses a monstrous beast speak directly to him, “... and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned. At last Simon gave up and looked back; saw the white teeth and dim eyes, the blood—and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition.”. The Lord of the Flies—a decaying, decapitated pig—exhibits the inborn malice of humanity; it utters embittered words, instigating self-resentment. Its eyes, devoid of life, parallel the indifferent nature of others’ ill-intent. Stock-still and decomposing, it embodies the devil; annihilating optimism, triggering despondency. The irony of childrens’ warped conceptualizations resultantly submerges the island within a frenzied aura of crippling purity. It—the Lord of the Flies—resembles the mind, the devil, and an inevitable loss of hope.
While it can be argued that Simon is a pure demonstration of benevolence, it is clear that he means more than that within the book because he is constantly compared to the evil lingering on the island. Unyielding and unfaltering, Simon aims to unite the group and eliminate the savagery that will inevitably consume the boys. Therefore, Simon eptimozies Jesus Christ on the account of his inherent nature to give and forgive. The Lord of the Flies represents the innate evil in humanity and is comparable to the vast cruelty of the demon known as Beelzebub. Representing the second deadly sin “Gluttony,” Beezlebub recurrently entices the stranded boys with hopes of food and temporary luxury. Hoping to rule them and exploit their innately evil nature, Beelzebub infiltrates their minds and creates conflict. As his seed begins to grow, the boys sever all previous ties to order and society by slaughtering Simon. By killing the last piece of kindness on the island, the boy’s doomed themselves to their own innate evil.