Saturday, March 14, 2015

How does Simon change throughout the the story "Lord of the Flies"?

Simon doesn't change so much as he emerges during the course of the story.  He begins as a minor character and by the time of his death in ch. 9, he has become a major character.  When he is introduced in the first chapter, he is one of the choirboys and he "...flopped on his face in the sand..." when Jack had the choir line up.  Jack said this was not an unusual thing for Simon to do, so we know right away that he is different.  Then when he goes into his trances, especially the trance in ch. 8 where Simon converses with the Lord of the Flies, the difference is clear.  Simon is the mystic of the book; he is the one who seems to understand long before anyone else what is going on and why.  He knows that the evil that the boys fear is not an outside presence but it is the evil that is inside each boy.  He dies for this knowledge when he comes running into the boys' circle to share the news and they, in their frenzy, fall upon him and kill him.

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