I love Simon--and every passage in the novel in which he
is present. He's a very small, quiet, and pensive character who, by comparison, doesn't
have very many lines of dialogue. He is, however, the only child on the island who
isn't consumed by the idea of a "beastie." In fact, Simon, after his encounter with the
Lord of the Flies, is able to recognize that the beast isn't a
monster inhabiting the island--it's the evil part that's present in all
humans.
Golding takes great care in constructing Simon's
character, and many critics liken him to a religious prophet or even to Christ
himself--saying that Simon's encounter with the Lord of the Flies
is remniscent of Jesus's encounter with Satan in the desert. Simon dies trying to save
the others from the idea of a "beastie," thus sacrificing himself for the good of
others. In one of the most beautiful passages of narration in the novel, Golding
describes Simon's dead body, on the beach, just before it is washed
away:
Somewhere over the darkened curve of the world
the sun and moon were pulling, and the film of water on the earth planet was held,
bulging slightly on one side while the solid core turned. The great wave of the tide
moved farther along the island and the water lifted. Softly, surrounded by a fringe of
inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast
constellations, Simon's dead body moved out toward the open
sea.
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