ipl-logo

Allusions In Lord Of The Flies

867 Words4 Pages

In his 1954 novel Lord of the Flies, Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding incorporates various Biblical allusions to add depth and complexity to the story. The uninhabited island, upon which a group of boys find themselves stranded, can be likened to the Garden of Eden from the book of Genesis. It is depicted as a paradise-like setting filled with an abundance of resources that quickly becomes marred in the presence of man. While some of the boys embody the essences of good and evil, the character Simon is portrayed as a Christ-like figure, as he is generous and empathetic to his companions. The encounter between Simon and the pig’s head also serves as a metaphor of the constant struggle that can be found between morality’s two spectrums. …show more content…

However, as the story progresses, the island's peaceful image is shattered as it quickly becomes a place of chaos and savagery instead. The boys' inevitable descent into corruption is evident from the moment of their arrival, starting with the "scar" (p. 1) caused by the airplane crash. The arrival of mankind progressively destroys the harmony of the island, from accidentally setting a fire that goes out of control (p. 44) to killing wild pigs for sport (p. 72), and eventually intentionally burning the entire island (p. 216). The island’s transformation echoes the fall of man in Genesis, where after the serpent tempts Adam and Eve with fruit from the tree of good and evil (Genesis 3), the pair were subsequently cast out from the garden to prevent further tainting it. Their banishment therefore prevents the destruction of the Garden as they could have ruined it, like how the boys devastated the island. The decline of morality in the boys from their first arrival represents the gradual loss of innocence as sin is slowly introduced into their surroundings. Through this comparison between the island and the Garden of Eden, one can see how prone human nature is to fall into darkness and chaos despite being presented with a seemingly perfect …show more content…

His selflessness and willingness to help others is evident through his efforts to reach for fruit for the littluns (p. 57) regardless of their contributions, and also in being the only one to help Ralph build the shelters (p. 50). Simon’s benevolence reflects Christ-like manners, as Jesus is known for having compassion for those around Him. For instance, throughout his many travels, Jesus was constantly placing the needs of others before His own, through healing the sick and feeding the hungry (Matthew 14:13-21). Similar to Christ, Simon is portrayed as an outsider due to his spiritual beliefs and his tendency to think differently. Simon’s beliefs of the inherent goodness of people and his desire to help others can be seen as parallel to Christ’s message of love and

Show More
Related
222 Words | 1 Pages

Simon consistently expresses concern for the more helpless boys. This is shown when the Littluns follow him, and he picks choice fruit for them from spots they can't reach. In the book, Simon is characterized as a saint.

Read More
777 Words | 4 Pages

Mckenzy L. powell Mrs.Benne English II 17th march 2023 Why Simon is the most mature in the Lord of the flies “Animals cannot be moral in all the ways we can be moral. But they can be moral in one of the ways we can be moral: they can be motivated to act by moral emotions”-Mark Rowlands (University of Miami). The Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. A group of young English boys in WW2 get stranded on an island after their plane that was supposed to bring them to safety crashes killing the only adult on the plane leaving the boys to fend for themselves.

Read More
880 Words | 4 Pages

This implies that the evil that is brewing on the island is going to come out and all hell will break loose. The next parallel is the fact that all of these kids were unashamed, just like Adam and Eve. The book says, “He undid the snake-clasp of his belt, lugged off his shorts, and pants, and stood there naked”. “but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed

Read More
518 Words | 3 Pages

Although Simon does show traits of a Christ figure, he does not fully live up to the archetype of a Christ figure. To be a Christ figure is someone must show the traits of the Biblical Christ. In the Bible, Christ fed people who could not feed themselves, and Simon fed the littluns ripe fruit, so that they could eat without getting sick. Simon’s role as a failed Christ figure is shown in his violent and ineffective “crucifixion” and “resurrection”, and his failure at getting them to listen and be reassured by what he had to say. One of the reasons Simon is a failed Christ figure, is that he just died, unlike Christ, who died a martyr to save humanity, and was resurrected from the dead.

Read More
537 Words | 3 Pages

On page 56 it reads, “Here the littluns who had run after him caught up with him. They talked, cried out unintelligibly, lugged him toward the trees. Then, amid the roar of bees in sunlight, 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.” This bit in the story shows that Simon didn’t have to give the little one the fruit, but because he had righteousness in his heart he did it anyway. When Simon was killed it showed the end of goodness that was left in the society.

Read More
551 Words | 3 Pages

And this island is depicted to be beautiful: “The shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or reclined against the light and their green feathers were a hundred feet up in the air” (Golding 5). These depictions of the island parallel the perfect paradise of the Garden of Eden in the Bible. Genesis 2:8-10 says, “The Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food...

Read More
1069 Words | 5 Pages

In the allegory Lord of the Flies, author William Golding employs a pure and innocent young boy, Simon, as an allusion and symbol of Jesus Christ to substantially convey the message that innocence, mortality, and truth are devoured at the hands of humankind’s innate savagery and evil. Freed from the constraints of society and civilization, the boys relish in their freedom in the isolated tropical island and eventually descend into instinctual madness and sin, the lines between democracy and anarchy blurring. Determined to save his friends,

Read More
2042 Words | 9 Pages

Lord of the Flies remains Golding’s most accredited piece of work. It is an apparently simple but densely layered novel that has been categorized as fiction, fable, a myth, and a tale. Generous use of symbolism in Golding’s work is what distinguishes him with other authors of the same genre. For example, the conch shell, that represents a vulnerable hold of authority which was finally shattered to pieces with Piggy’s death. Secondly, for the other boys, Piggy’s eyeglasses represented the lack of intelligence which was later defeated by superstition and savagery.

Read More
269 Words | 2 Pages

In Golding's novel, he uses the main characters as metaphors to show that evil will consume mankind’s virtue, while inflicting chaos, if the presence of optimism and intelligence is lost in civilization. In Golding's novel, Simon is a metaphor for virtue in the novel. Golding alludes to the idea that Simon is a sign of goodness by

Read More
2262 Words | 10 Pages

Throughout the novel, he draws parallels between Christ and one of the boys, Simon, who remains civilized as the other boys descend into savagery. After helping Ralph attempt to build shelters, Simon goes into the forest and picks fruit for the crowd of littluns that follows him: “Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, 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” (Golding 60). In chapter 14 of the Gospel of Matthew, we hear about Christ feeding a multitude of over 5000 people with only two fish and five loaves of bread. Likewise, Simon appeases the “endless, outstretched hands” of the littluns with the fruit he plucks from the trees. The similarity between the miracle performed by God and the generous deed executed by the quiet boy points to a deep relationship between Simon and the Christian faith.

Read More
1248 Words | 5 Pages

When boys are trapped on a secluded island with only each other and their thoughts, it’s only natural there is going to be a downfall within the entire group. Factors that may play a role in the expiration of human decency are broad and abundant, including; The children's personalities, sense loneliness, lack of knowledge, the surge of freedom, and the

Read More
718 Words | 3 Pages

You can plainly see this in how Simon was the only one who remained completely civil and good resembling how Jesus is the only one who has walked this earth and didn’t sin once in His life. With his well-minded nature, Simon constantly attempts to be a peacemaker and succeeds in preventing himself from falling to the level of evil of his peers. Simon went through a lot with the plane crash, being stranded on the island, and being picked on by those such as Jack, and yet through it all, he remained to be the most sound minded and good person in his group just like Jesus lived a perfect life despite all of His

Read More
478 Words | 2 Pages

Even after all that occurs on the island, the boys begin to show signs of humanity again. The outward emotion that “infects” the boys at the end is clear indicators that humanity is

Read More
973 Words | 4 Pages

While the boys face the difficulty of building shelters, disagreements between group members, and the possibility of a beast lurking in the shadows of the island, their humanity and childlike innocence

Read More
1127 Words | 5 Pages

During Simon’s encounter with the Lord of the Flies, Golding reveals the central issue concerning human nature. Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon that the beast is inside each boy and cannot be killed. The boys go from behaving like civilized young men to brutal savages. “What I mean is…maybe it’s only us.”

Read More

More about Allusions In Lord Of The Flies

Related Topics

Open Document