Simon’s Transition from Quiet Boy to the Establishment of Empathy In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Simon’s transition from laconic youth to the short-lived establishment of empathy creates the subtle upending of the island’s makeshift civilization. Simon is repeatedly shown to be the only boy to show compassion and direct kindness towards anyone else. The shy boy does this at personal risk to himself. The most evident of these instances is in Chapter Four after the hunters have retrieved a pig and Jack is attempting to intimidate Piggy by withholding his share. Simon ‘shoves’ away his portion then ‘[lowers] his face in shame’ (78). Despite his extreme timidity he takes it upon himself to express his morality and his opinion, to whatever avail. …show more content…
While Ralph and Jack imitate their idea of leadership, they take on the negative aspect of unaccountable commanders; abusing their underlings. Jack especially offends the underlings by hitting Piggy in front of them, hurting Piggy and establishing a pattern of disrespect against the fat, spectacled boy; many times the boys look at Piggy and ‘lacked interest in what they saw’ (44). However, while the other boys now see fit to treat Piggy in that same manner, Simon naturally steps in repeatedly to console him, with his kindness confronting the others. Simon’s morality is firmly planted in himself and he acts as such. Unlike Piggy ‘who [is] so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society’ Simon maintains his good behavior without threats from adults or urges to be accepted by the group (142). For example, Simon only picks the best fruits for the littluns until ‘he had satisfied them’ (57). After this the littluns regard him differently; his character is applied to them and so his position in their lives has