LOTF Essay

Describe at least one important character in the written text. Explain how this character is revealed to you throughout the text.

Simon in Lord of the Flies

Simon is one of the main protagonists in Lord of the Flies. Simon is a quiet reserved boy who is nervous in social situations. He is compassionate and kind, but he is mentally unstable, likely schizophrenic. Simon as a character is used by Golding to personify the superego. His character is comprised out of 3 main aspects of his persona, he is kind and selfless, socially awkward and he is schizophrenic with a troubled mind. These aspects of simon’s character are gradually revealed over the course of the novel until his demise in chapter nine.

The kindness and selflessness is the first aspect of Simon’s character that is revealed to the reader. The first key revelation of this was in chapter three when ralph was trying to build shelters for the kids. While all the other kids would run off to play after they got bored with helping, Simon stayed with Ralph. “Simon. He helps.” He pointed at the shelters. “All the rest rushed off. He’s done as much as I have.” -Ralph. This shows Simon’s selflessness and his role as the superego. He is willing to put aside his own desires and discomforts in order to help out his friends. While those around him are only caring for themselves he is building shelters for the group. A key scene that emphasises the kindness of Simon was when Jack steals Piggy’s glasses to light the fire. Afterwards Simon helps Piggy find his glasses and defends him later when jack is having a go at him. “We used his glasses. He helped that way.” Simon sees Jack’s act against Piggy as wrong and the good inside him makes him want to help Piggy; his role as the superego means he wants to help out his friends.

The next aspect of Simon’s character to be revealed to the reader was his social awkwardness. One key scene that shows this was when Simon attempts to address the boys during a meeting. “Maybe,” he said hesitantly, “maybe there is a beast.” The assembly cried out savagely and Ralph stood up in amazement. “You Simon? You believe in this?”. “I don’t know,” said Simon. His heartbeats were choking him. “But..” Simon continues trying to address the meeting but he can not find the necessary words to express himself and eventually he is shut down by jeering and laughter from the crowd. Although Simon had a valid point to say, the pressure of the social situation unnerved him to the point where he could barely talk. Even though he “felt a perilous necessity speak”. he could not, “to speak in assembly was a terrible thing to him.”

The third and final aspect of simon’s character that was revealed to the reader was his madness/schizophrenia. This is gradually hinted as the novel progresses until it is fully cast into light during chapter nine and ten when Simon is having a schizophrenic attack that leads him to perceive he is having a conversation with a sow’s head, which he calls the Lord of the Flies. Simon’s attack starts when Jack and his hunters kill a sow and mount its head on a spike as a sort of offering for the beast. Unknown to the hunters Simon is watching them from the nearby jungle. Once the hunters leave Simon remains staring at the pig’s head, he can’t get the image of the sow out of his mind. He begins to hallucinate. “The half shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism if adult life, they assured him that everything was bad business.” Simon then has a sort of silent conversation with the sow, which to his eyes is no longer female. “A pulse began to beat on the brain.” Simon starts talking out loud and the Lord of the Flies responds as such with the voice of a school master. Eventually Simon can’t handle the hallucination and losses consciousness. This says a lot about Simon’s mental situation. The sow having the voice of a school master implies he misses the influence that adults and society had on his life. A school master would have been the most predominant influence of society and authority on Simon, and his subconscious brain is calling out for this again, to relieve the stress and fear of responsibility and being alone without guidance. During this scene Simon thinks to himself, “He knew that one of his times was coming on”. This implies that this is not the first time Simon has had such an attack and has probably previously experienced hallucinations before coming to the island. During the conversation the Pig’s head says to Simon “Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill!”, “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part part of you?” This shows that Simon believes that the beast is something inside the boys, an evil that exists in all of them. Simon has suspected this for a while, not just after his hallucination. He appeared to be trying to tell the boys of his suspicion when he was trying to address them in an assembly (the same assembly I used as an example to address his social awkwardness), but due to his social awkwardness he is unable to convey his message to them.

Once Simon’s character has been fully revealed to the reader we can see his personality in full. As he is used by Golding to represent the superego he is Kind and selfless, he will help out his friends and put the interests of society before his own. He is not confident in social situations; he does not have the self confidence to speak in assemblies as he is afraid of being put down by the other boys, and he has rare schizophrenia attacks and an occasionally troubled and suspicious mind, he is the only boy who suspects that the beast is inside them. Overall Simon is an interesting and complex character and an accurate representation of the superego in Lord of the Flies.

By Caleb Eason