Simon in Lord of the Flies

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Simon represents a Christ figure. Simon is the only character who is never tempted by Jack and his tribe to become uncivilized. He is the only boy that acts out of morality for the entire book because he believes it is right, unlike the other boys who were only civilized off the island to avoid punishments from adults. In one scene Simon is being followed into the forest by littluns and helps them get fruit. “... Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach and passed them back down to the endless outstretched hands” (56). Simon is the only main character who helps the littluns, showing his morality and connecting him to Christ. Later in the book Simon is alone again when the other boys are at Jack’s feast. He comes across the Lord of the Flies which is a pig’s head on a stick. Simon hallucinates the Lord of the Flies, which represents the devil, talking to him. During their conversation Simon clearly opposes it, showing he is a Christ figure. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they are?” (143).The Lord of the Flies is talking to Simon and tells him the beast is not real, but exists within every boy, something Simon had suspected all along. The Lord of the Flies also says he is the reason things have fallen apart on the island, implying again that humans are instinctively evil because he exists within all of them. The Lord of the Flies is trying to convince Simon to be tempted by Jack like the other boys. Simon then finds the body attached to the parachute and realizes it is the beast they have been afraid of. When trying to tell the boys the truth about the beast, he is ultimately killed by all the boys, even Ralph and Piggy, who think he is the beast. Simon’s death makes Ralph and Piggy realize they can’t join Jack’s tribe. Simon was sacrificed on the island to save Ralph, just like Christ was sacrificed.