Monday, February 16, 2015

Any parallels between the characters and Jesus in "Lord of the Flies" ?In "Lord of the Flies", can you make any parallels between the characters...

Simon is the character who is most often compared to Christ because of his death in the chapter A View to a Death. In this chapter, Simon has just had his revelatory "conversation" with the Lord of the Flies, the pig's head left in the clearing as an offering / sacrifice to the Beast. After this conversation / delusion Simon discovers that the thing that Sam and Eric took to be the beast was in fact a dead parachutist.

Armed with this knowledge, which would free the boys from the tyranny of fear that had gripped them, Simon fights his way through the jungle and into the middle of one of Jack's celebration dances for having killed the sow (who was also the Lord of the Flies). Perhaps deliberately, in order to stop the truth of the beast being made known and reducing his own power, or perhaps in a tragic accident, Jack and his hunters proceed to kill Simon and throw his body into the sea.

Personally, I do not agree with the Christ-like connection with Simon. Unlike Christ's sacrifice, Simon's death (which is nothing like a willing sacrifice) does nothing to save the boys and in fact sends them deeper into savagery and self-destruction. His foresight and understanding that the beast is within us all is accurate and telling but makes him more like a prophet (perhaps Cassandra who was given the gift of prophect along with the curse that noone would ever believe her by Apollo).

Simon is however the most civil throughout whilst also being most comfortable in the jungle.

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