Does Simon Speak The Truth In Lord Of The Flies

William Golding, an author from England, served in the British navy during World War Two. The atrocities he witnessed during the war inspired him to write the novel The Lord Of The Flies in 1954. The book is about a group of british school boys who crash land on an island with no adults, and quickly turn savage. A group of hunters attack a civil group of kids, Piggy, Simon, and Ralph. Of the kids Ralph is the only one who survives before they are rescued. In his novel The Lord Of The Flies, William Golding validates that man is savage and uncivilized, but we do have courteous and gratifying traits that prevent us from wreaking havoc upon each other through the portrayal of Simon to show how important it is to speak the truth; Piggy to depict

Simon likes to spend time alone with himself so that he can think. Golding uses this character to epitomize speaking the truth. An exemplification of Simon’s ability to speak the truth is when he hallucinates and hears the lord of the flies say, “you knew didn’t you? I’m part of you?”(Golding 143). After this episode he runs back to the camp to tell the boys the truth about the ostensible beast. Simon also knows what he needs to do and does it. Ralph was building shelters and none of the others boys helped, they were off playing. When Jack approached Ralph he had been working “All day… with Simon. No one else”(50). This showed how he knew the truth and exemplified it. “Simon is a visionary who wants to find out the nature of the beast; He is given a deeper insight into the situation than the others”(Paulette Michel- Michot). Simon showed man’s ability to speak the truth, and his friend piggy tried to depict man’s true

Piggy is the smartest boy on the island, and always tries to keep order and civility. He was often enforcing that when he “got the conch”(101) then he was entitled to talk. The conch is a symbol for civilization and so is Piggy. When the conch died piggy died too, along with any form of order on the island. Piggy was innovative and came up with ideas to help the boys, like when he says that he “could make a sundial, [he] could put a stick in the ground,”(64) but then he gets cut-off because Ralph isn’t interested in his wisdom. Piggy is perceived as a goof or jester because he is overweight. “Piggy shows that morality and maturity are needed to balance people’s wild instincts”(Lord of the Flies). Piggy’s wisdom and knowledge exemplifies the good qualities in human society. Piggy, Simon, and Ralph were the ones who attempted to keep order, but Ralph was the one in charge of the whole