God and Religious Symbols in "Lord of the Flies"

“All men have need of the gods” (Guillemets). Homer is correct; all men can use a god. We need support, hope, and a way to control the masses. Within the classic novel Lord of the flies by William Golding, there are many religious symbols. Lord of the Flies is best read as a religious allegory because Simon is a Jesus figure, Ralph and Jack are like Cain and Abel, the boys start to create a Pagan like religion and treat the beast like a god.

There are many examples of Simon ostensibly acting altruistically and wholly, almost Jesus like. Just like Jesus, Simon not only stopped to help the children but also got the best he could for them. Simon “found for [the littleuns] the fruit they could not reach,” and not only singled out it for them, but also “pulled off the choicest fruit” (Golding 74). Simon stopped and unselfishly helped the littluns just as Jesus or a saint would. Simon gave his meat up for piggy when Jack would not give piggy any meat. Just like Jesus, Simon “gave it to [Piggy]” and shared with him “[the] body” and flesh of the pig (Luke 22:19). Simon was being unselfish when he did this, but it also is redolent to Luke 22 at the last supper. Little did Simon know but that would be his last supper. This passage in the bible gives many examples of Jesus’ selflessness. Simon was passive and not violent, just like Jesus. Simon “was assigned a grave with the wicked’ and “though he had done no violence,” and there “was [not] any deceit in his mouth” he was still slaughtered (Isaiah 53:9). The ones who killed Simon were wicked with savagery, and thought Simon was a threat, just like the Romans thought Jesus was a threat. Simon was blameless, he had done no wrong, yet he was brutally battered and murdered. Simon is a Jesus li...

... middle of paper ...

...art to leave are disturbingly similar to Pagan sacrifices to Pagan gods.

Simon is a Jesus figure, Ralph and jack are like Cain and Abel, and the boys start to have a Pagan religion and treat the beast like a god; supporting the theory that Lord of the Flies can best be read as a religious allegory. Golding was trying to demonstrate that references to God and religions are everywhere. The need for religion and hope causes many people to show religious symbols in their art. Everyone worships something; everyone needs religion and religious symbols.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin Group, 1954.

Guillemets, Terri. "Quotations about Religion". The Quote Garden. 2/4/2010

New International Version: Containing the Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.