“What are we? Humans? Or Animals? Or Savages?” asks Piggy in chapter 5 of The Lord of the Flies. William Golding uses the “beast” to pose this question seriously and strike fear in the heart of the readers. The beast started as a something mysterious and scary that gave nightmares to littluns but became something that brought the evil that was hidden in the boys’ hearts.
The beast symbolizes littluns’ feelings of insecurity arising from the fear of the unknown, absence of grownups and bullying behaviors of some of the bigguns. Beast was first mentioned when Piggy voiced the concern of a boy with a mulberry birthmark. “He wants to know what you’re going to do about the snake thing.” Many of the boys were ecstatic to the news that there were
…show more content…
Simon’s role as a mystic and religious character is established from his hidden place of meditation and his description of eyes. “So bright they had deceived Ralph into delightfully gay.” In parallel to Piggy’s spec which represent myopic vision and intellectuality, Simon’s bright eyes represent foresight vision and truth. Simon’s credibility as religious is further strengthened from his differences with other boys: Simon’s physical fragility, ability to see things and his concern for the littluns. Simon’s willingness to pick fruits unreachable to littluns and to help Piggy get his glasses back from Jack allude Christ-like image. Simon’s mystic characteristic is heightened during his hallucination of the Lord of The Flies. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?” The Lord of the Flies identifies itself as the beast and conveys to Simon that the beast is inside human beings. Frightened by Lord of the Flies’ remark, Simon tries to tell the boys this news. Yet, evil and savagery overtook the boys, as they mistake Simon as the beast, and kill him. Simon’s death is the ultimate result of the effect the beast has on the