Simon In Lord Of The Flies As A Christ Figure

In literature, a Christ-figure is a spiritual or prophetic character who parallels to Christ. In the Lord of the Flies, Simon is presented as the Christ-figure. Although Simon shares characteristics with the Biblical Christ, he actually fails as a Christ-figure. Simon’s failure is evident in his violent but ineffective “crucifixion” and his mundane “resurrection.” Simon is the allusion to Simon Peter from the Bible, who was one of the twelve apostles. According to the New Testament, Simon Peter was one of the first followers of Christ. It is believed the Peter Simon traveled to Rome and was martyred there by crucifixion. He requested to be crucified upside down because he said he was not worthy to die in the same way as Christ. Similarly Simon in the Lord of the Flies, is depicted as kind, compassionate, and peaceful. He behaves kindly to the littluns by giving them fruit from the trees and he is the first to realize the problem posed by the breast. Instead of being a martyr, his crucifixion made things worse.

After Simon woke up, he goes up the mountain, just like Christ did when he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, to find the truth about the beast, which he finds out is a dead parachute man. Excited to tell the boys that he freed them from the beast, Simon staggers down the mountain, just like Christ did on his way to his crucifixion. Golding writes, “ Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill,” which show that his message of salvation goes unheeded. Mistaken for the beast, the boys murder him, which brings more emphasize that the boys are the beast. While Christ died a martyr, Simon died in vein. He does not save anyone and no one changes because of him. Simon’s death will be forgotten, while no one will forget Christ’s