Figurative Language In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

In the novel Lord of The Flies, William Golding uses figurative language to demonstrate how upon Simon’s death, the nature of the island shifts and Simon is finally at peace while his body drifts out to sea. Because the boys have been on the island for quite some time, they have hit rock bottom, throwing away any sign of logic left and becoming consumed in savageness. This being said, when Simon comes crawling into their circle on the night of a menacing storm, the boys claim he is the island beast, causing them to attack him mercilessly. After the boys have finished the violent killing, they retreat to the shelters, leaving Simon’s body stranded on the beach. His body lays on the beach of the island, where “the air was cool, moist, and clear; and presently even the sound of the

The ocean surrounding the island is symbolic in the book, as it violently erupts when the boys turn to their savage instincts; the biggest waves were displayed during the hunting of the beast and the killing of Simon. Now the water is “still” because Simon, the only person that didn’t believe in the beast, is finally free from all the savage and delusional boys and at peace to rest. Never turning to his savage side, Simon was very different from the rest of the boys. He wasn’t happy on the island and didn’t agree with a lot of what the boys said, but could not voice his opinion because he would get made fun of. Simon is finally at peace when “stains… seeped from [his] broken body…” and “dressed [his] coarse hair with brightness” (154). Stains are usually something that is permanent, but in this case, they are being removed from Simon’s “broken” corpse. Simon’s body was broken long before he was mauled by the boys; he was not at peace on the island and, in a way, his mind was broken. As the stains are seeping out of Simon, he is being cleansed from the violent and savage nature of the