Simon Is The Most Mature In Lord Of The Flies

Mckenzy L. powell

Mrs.Benne

English II

17th march 2023

Why Simon is the most mature in the Lord of the flies

“Animals cannot be moral in all the ways we can be moral. But they can be moral in one of the ways we can be moral: they can be motivated to act by moral emotions”-Mark Rowlands (University of Miami). The Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. A group of young English boys in WW2 get stranded on an island after their plane that was supposed to bring them to safety crashes killing the only adult on the plane leaving the boys to fend for themselves. The

Simon was one of the only boys who actually showed moral decency on the island. While the rest of the older boys are mean to the littluns on the island, for instance they stomp on a sand castle the littluns have built. Roger even throws stones at one of the boys. Simon on the other hand actually helps the littluns. Like when he helped them pick their fruit off the trees, because they couldn't reach. “Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for [the littluns] the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage”(3.138).

Simon in chapter 5 also shows that he still needs his own space to clear his head like how he goes to the field to think."I wanted--to go to a place--a place I know." "What place?" "Just a place I know. A place in the jungle.".Simon also shows he's not completely selfish and savage like the rest of them when in chapter 4 he offers Piggy his meat. "Simon, sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed

Simon expressed multiple times he doesn't think the beast is real like when the littluns made first made up the ‘beastie’ “As if it wasn't a good island… As if...the beastie, the beastie or the snake-thing, was real. …”pg 52. Simon also goes to another level of showing he's not savage like the rest of them and still civilized when he reveals he thinks that they could possibly be the beast. "You, Simon? You believe this?”"I don't know, but... What I mean is... maybe it's only us." page 89 . Simon knows that it's not possible what they are afraid of when they are searching for the beast and tries sharing that thought that maybe they are the beast but the rest of the boys weren't having it.“Simon, walking in front of Ralph, felt a flicker of incredulity—a beast with claws that scratched, that sat on a mountain-top, that left no tracks and yet was not fast enough to catch Samneric. However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human, at once heroic and sick. (6.140)”Simon also always backed up his friends and helped them when they were in need. Like when all of the boys on the island were calling Piggy useless Simon stood behind him by saying that they use his glasses ““We used [Piggy's] specs... He helped that way.” chapter 2. When Ralph was freaking out Simon also comforted him telling him “You’ll get back