Truong Page 1
Lauryn Truong
Mr. Poling
English 5th Period
7 October 2015
Lord of the Flies Character Analysis: Simon In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Simon is empathetic; however, he struggles to communicate with the boys. One trait that Simon has is empathy, which is expressed through his actions. Golding develops Simon as a Christ-like figure, meaning he takes on characteristics that Christ had. Like Jesus, he is able to interpret what the group's problems are and what needs to be done to fix them. He demonstrates empathy regarding the beast because Simon understands the boys' unshakable fear of the beast and works to resolve the issue. Simon is also sympathetic to the outcasts, like Piggy. For instance, "He went crouching and feeling over the rocks but Simon, who got there first, found them for him. Passions beat about Simon on the mountain-top with awful wings." This quote suggests that Simon's character is passionate and understands the building tension and the boys' anger, but is set apart from it, preferring to show compassion to Piggy when Simon picks up his glasses for him. Another example of when Simon demonstrates empathy to others is on page 74, when Jack uses the pig meat as a way to manipulate the boys and gain power. At first, Jack deprives Piggy of meat because he sees him as a
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Simon is a character who doesn't say much, but when he does speak, it is to reveal some sort of truth and his words are sometimes prophetic. Often times, Simon is at a loss for words or has a lack of confidence when he wants to speak to a large group of his peers: "Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness" (89). In this line, Simon is trying to say that the beast is something dark within the boys themselves, which is "mankind's essential illness", or evil nature. He is the