Lord Of The Flies Chapter 912 Notes

Lord Of The Flies: Chapter 9-12 Notes Essay, Research Paper

1. After Simon is killed, the next paragraph

begins, “The clouds open and let the rain down like a waterfall.” When

the boys kill Simon they not only kill him and spirituality, but what they

perceive to be the beast. Because the beast was created by them and embodied

all of their evils, one of its interpretations can be as mankind’s sin.

Simon is very similar to Jesus in this book. The Roman’s ruled the world

during Jesus’ life, and now a similar bloodthirsty society rules the island

during Simon’s life. Both are killed by such a society, and both sacrifice

themselves so that mankind’s sin can be forgiven. When Simon dies, the

rain washes away not only spirituality, but also the beast and all of the

sins that accompany it. Golding writes that the water bounded from the

mountaintop. Because the mountain top represented the peak of society,

this could be interpreted to state that all of society carries sin, even

the glorious moments of it, and that Simon’s sacrifice was extended to

the boys’ entire stay on the island and the sin that was committed during

that period of time. This is also similar to Jesus’ sacrifice that was

for all of mankind’s sins, not just the sins of the Roman society that

killed him. After Simon has been killed, the figures stagger away. By referring

to the boys as figures, they are no longer individuals, but the nameless

men who are the vehicle that society uses to carry out its evil deeds.

It is no longer of relevance who did what because it was the entire society

that killed Simon. This can be related to other societies, such as Nazi

Germany. Today Hitler is credited with most of the responsibility for World

War II. We do not like to blame German society for it because that would

mean that we are also capable of this if we had to endure the circumstances

of 1940’s Germany. We cannot blame the German race for these problems,

as they are a characteristic of humanity. We fought World War II against

the forces of racism, but we ourselves treated the Japanese very poorly

while all of this was going on. Although we too went through the depression,

we did not have the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles against us.

When any society has such horrible circumstances, they tend to look for

a scapegoat, such as a race of people. If Hitler did not enjoy such great

public support he would not have come to power. It is also very difficult

for a nation to declare war without public support. It is therefore significant

that figures staggered away because it was the whole society, and not just

Jack who killed Simon. It is also interesting to note that during the course

of this book the boys’ civilization falls from glory. They then create

a beast as a scapegoat, claiming that they can no longer climb the mountain,

and therefore return to the glory of their civilization because of it.

When Simon dies Golding refers to him as the beast. This not only can be

interpreted by the Jesus theory as stated above, but by a new theory that

establishes Simon as society’s scapegoat. It can also be interpreted to

state that the beast is all of mankind’s gifts such as spirituality, when

they are suppressed and murdered by society, crippling its ability to function.

When Simon is killed he lays still only a few yards from sea. It is important

to know that all life originates from the sea, where it arose in primitive

form. This is significant for two reasons; it tells us that spirituality

is an ancient and instinctive trait of man, and that the boys society,

that came away from the mountain (peak of society) and towards the ocean

to kill Simon, had returned from civilization to a more primitive and savage

form in doing so. Because the beast (Simon) is small, society’s problem

is not the beast itself, but the way it is dealt with. When Simon’s blood

stains the sand, his death and the savage society that killed him forever

taint the island. No matter what might happen in the future, Simon will

always be dead and because of the blood in the sand this cannot be forgotten.

The sand and ultimately the island being stained with blood also have meaning.

Because the society as inhabits the island, the island can be used to represent

society as a whole, which is has been stained by its own atrocities. During

the storm the parachute is filled with rain and swept off the island. The

parachute is a symbol of Ralph, Simon, and Piggy’s attempt to prevent the

old ways of society and civility from dying. Piggy and Ralph were part

of the savage murder; therefore this society has assimilated them and destroyed

their efforts to maintain a civilized society. Simon has now been killed

and therefore their efforts and civility can no longer be maintained. The

parachute then, tells us that civility has not only been destroyed, but <

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