Edgar Derby and Simon: Life, Death, and Message

Edgar Derby and Simon suffer dissimilar murderous, underserved, and undignified deaths; however, the ideas and values that they stood for as well as the lives and experiences leading up to their sadistic deaths are similar.

Although Edgar Derby and Simon lead incredibly different lives, throughout the novels, Slaughterhouse-Five and Lord of the Flies, there are many similarities in the situations that ultimately lead to their deaths. TRANSITION. When Edgar Derby and the other American prisoners of war were put in the camp with the British prisoners, Kurt Vonnegut tells us that, “They could tunnel all they pleased. They would inevitably surface within a rectangle of barbed wire, would find themselves greeted listlessly by dying Russians who spoke no English, who had no food or useful information or escape plans of their own” (118-119). This quotation describes how the Americans are trapped in a vast wasteland surrounded by dying civilians and have nowhere to go even if they were to escape the camp. This is significant because portrays the hopelessness of the situation of the soldiers, including Edgar Derby, which helps to display his perseverant and patriotic qualities that could be considered heroic. During this time, Edgar Derby exudes the qualities of an exemplary soldier, as the other prisoners of war, including Billy Pilgrim, “become the ready slaves of whatever anonymous bureaucracies, computers, or authoritarian institutions [that] take hold of their minds”. Due to the weak mental and physical states of many of the prisoners of war, they are easily controlled and persuaded; however, Edgar Derby and the British prisoners attempt to remind the American prisoners of their values, morals, and hygiene. TRANSITION. As the boys, ...

... middle of paper ...

...hat the beast is not real and that all the boys are living in fear of something that does not exist. The boys have no reason to be afraid, however, when he goes to tell them this, they brutally murder him because they think that he is, in fact, the beast, thus preventing Simon from delivering his message. Even though Simon does not get to deliver his message to the boys, he serves a “symbolic function in the novel as the agent who provides the text’s fibular message – that ‘mankind is both heroic and sick’”. Although Simon did not get to release the boys from their overwhelming fear of the beast, he helps the readers grasp the novel’s overarching message by exemplifying both heroic and sick qualities. This apparent switch between two opposing traits functions as his message to the reader and makes Simon an extraordinarily important character. TRANSITION. TRANSITION.