In “Lord of the Flies”, William Golding explores the theme of the cruelty of human nature through characterisation and the portrayal of characters. The novel tells of a group of schoolboys that are stranded on a tropical island with no adults. Tensions rise as the leader of the choir Jack Merridew derives into savagery, leading to the death of Simon. Through the novel, Golding successfully shocks the reader of this key event through Jack’s degradation of morals and manipulation of the other boys. On the night of Simon’s death, Golding portrays the boys as violent and animalistic under the control of Jack. When Jack encourages the chant, the group of boys form into a “single organism”, in which they “throb and stamp” showing how the boys have temporarily forgotten all logical reasoning and are reliant on their animal instinct. The act continued as they "screamed, struck, bit" and "tore" into Simon showing the ruthlessness and brutality of their acts which, in turn, shocks the reader as the once innocent boys now mercilessly kill one of their own. Golding creates a frightening and murky atmosphere on this night. When Ralph and Piggy join the killing it is described as being done “under the threat of the sky showing that the setting was so terrifying that it caused the two to join. Furthermore, in the convocation they have the next day; Piggy …show more content…
When Simon is helping Ralph on the shelters he says to Jack "All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else.” This shows the thoughtfulness that Simon give towards people he encounters and his loyalty to Ralph. Moreover, when Simon discovers that the beast is no more than a deceased paratrooper he thinks that it is his duty to inform the others as “soon as possible.” This shows his desire to let the others know of his discovery, therefore, his desire to ease the fear of the beast, something that only Ralph has seen to do before