Lord Of The Flies Archetypes

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, each character is symbolic and falls in line with the archetypes of celestial bodies. Focusing in on Jack, Piggy, and Simon, they can each be assigned a specific astrological symbol that matches their own personality. Jack matches with Mars, Piggy serves as Mercury, and Simon is representative of the Moon.

Those that represent Mars are given the title of Warrior, and rightfully so. Jack is one of the most frustratingly defiant, rebellious, and independent characters throughout the entirety of the novel. Mars is inept when it comes to long-term planning. Jack can only think about the here and now, often neglecting other responsibilities: “You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out!” (Golding

Just the way he holds himself is incredibly distinguishable from every other boy on the island. Every aspect about him coincides with, and is represented by, the Moon. The Moon is known to portray the unconscious; a dream-like state of mind. Early in the novel, Simon is described as “always throwing a faint” (Golding 20). It is the unconscious that gives the Moon its alleged healing and caring abilities. Throughout centuries the Moon has been used in healing rituals and is said to assist in freeing oneself from illness. When Simon discovers the so-called beast on the hill, he realizes the injustice and the malady of the poor man’s spirit. With gentle care, Simon “took the lines in his hands; he freed them from the rocks and the figure from the wind’s indignity.” (Golding 146-147). With a solemn and unique understanding of the pain and emptiness of the paratrooper, Simon frees him with a kind and sympathetic touch. The Moon reciprocates this gesture when Simon is carried out to the open ocean. The Moons element is water, and the water is manipulated in a careful, healing, nearly loving way for Simon: “softly, surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon’s dead body moved out towards the open sea” (Golding 154). At this moment, even though Simon is gone, he still infuses a sense of melancholy -- a bittersweet sadness that echoes through the reader’s memories to resonate and connect with them. This is the side of the Moon most rarely seen — the emotional, sometimes nostalgic sense. It takes a serious event in one’s lifetime to bring this out in a person, and in Simon’s case, it was his death that made the sky weep for the universal loneliness of a boy who is