How Does Lord Of The Flies Represent Death

Conner Lewandowski

Mrs. Luciano

H. English 2A

March 14th, 2023

Deaths in Lord of the Flies Death is a grueling, unimaginable, and unavoidable part of life. Everyone and everything that lives will eventually reach the end. Whether anyone wants to meet their death or not, death will always find a way to meet them. Deaths can have purpose and can invoke strong feelings among one another. When it comes to literature, deaths are often used to express different meanings and symbolism throughout stories. In William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, several boys are stranded on an island after being shot down by plane during a war. As the boys continue to survive by themselves on the novel, several individuals do not make it. All of the deaths throughout

Simon is the Christ-like figure of the island who believes in goodness, purity, truth, and innocence. Throughout the novel, Simon is often one of the voices of reason and insight among the group, typically showing his understanding in the true nature of humanity. As the boys are discussing the existence of the beast on the island, Simon is hesitant to reveal his opinion about the beast. Although Ralph and Piggy believe in the beast in a supernatural way, Simon believes in the beast in a spiritual way. Simon explains, “Maybe there is a beast…What I mean is… maybe it’s only us” (89). This quote demonstrates Simon’s belief in the goodness of humanity. Simon suggests that the beast everyone is afraid of isn’t existent outside of themselves, but instead is a simple thought of inner darkness within them. This exhibits Simon’s belief in the inherent goodness of humanity, and shows his understanding that evil isn’t an external force but rather an internal one that exists in human nature. As Simon continues to show his innocence throughout the novel, he eventually runs into the sow’s head on the stick, the “Lord of the Flies.” Simon begins to hallucinate a conversation with the beast in which the beast says, “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!!... You knew, didn’t you? I’m a part of you” (135). Upon Simon confronting the sow’s head, the “Lord of the Flies” tells him that he is not real

Before the boys had gone complete savage, there was a point when they were still innocent and had good morals. However, when the paratrooper first arrives on the island, he further develops the concepts of fear and death to the boys, in which their responses reveal their initial descents into the savagery. When the boys decide to travel up the mountain to find and hunt the beast, they are presented with the first interaction with the paratrooper’s dead body bobbing up and down with a parachute. The boys take off running in which the narrator describes their fleeing as, “creatures crying out and leaping.. daring the impossible on the dark slope… presently the mountain was deserted, save for the three abandoned sticks and the thing that bowed” (126). This description of them fleeing demonstrates how the boys’ fear of the “beast”, the paratrooper, has overtaken their thoughts and imaginations with fear, making it impossible for them to think even somewhat rationally. The boys are filled with fear and run down the mountain into the forest. By doing so, the forest aids in representing the darkness the boys are about to enter as they descend into savagery, all because of the paratrooper. As the actions of the boys continue to become more savage and barbaric among themselves, an act of violence takes place among them leaving someone dead. When the death of the individual is