Lord of the Flies Characterization Simon and Rger

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a novel that takes place in a future war. After their plane was shot down by their enemies, a group of young English boys were stranded on a deserted island. The novel examines the breakdown of the civilized nature of the boys and their gradual descent to primitive savages. Throughout the novel the themes of good and evil of humans can be represented throughout many of the characters. However, the manifestations of both good and evil are best seen portrayed by two boys respectively: Simon and Roger. Simon is the virtuous boy who hopes for the rest of his peers. On the contrary, Roger is destructive and self centered. The personalities of these two boys show that Simon is the best representation of the good in human beings whereas Roger is the contrasting evil. From the two characters, Simon and Roger, we can see that civilization instills integrity into human beings while the loss of civilization will help to erupt the evil in each person.

From his peaceful nature and selflessness, we can see that Simon is the most well behaved boy on the island. Simon is a nature-lover, thus he often isolates himself in the forest. This calm and tranquil environment allows him to be alone and away from the negative influence of the other boys. The others are in the process of becoming savages and being away from them means that he is not changing into a savage. He spends most of his days listening to the sounds of nature and relaxing in his “bowl of heat and light”. His entire afternoon would be spent there, returning only to the rest of the boys late at night when everybody is sleeping. “Holding his breath he cocked a critical ear at the sounds of the island. Evening was advancing towards the island; the sounds of the bright fantastic birds, the bee-sounds, even the crying of the gulls that were returning to their roosts among the square rocks, were fainter. The deep sea breaking miles away on the reef made an undertone less perceptible than the susurration of the blood” (P. 58). He is a peaceful person compared with Maurice who destroys the littluns’ sand castles or Henry who enjoys controlling sea creatures. Simon finds joy in observing his natural surroundings rather than ruining and destroying it like the other boys. Simon also helps the other boys without regard for himself. This is best illustrated when Jack succeeds in his hunt for the first time and the boys finally eat meat. Jack only gives meat to hunters as well as Ralph and Simon leaving Piggy with no meat. After Piggy informs Jack and asks why he didn’t get any meat, Simon gave up his own piece of meat to Piggy. “Simon, sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy who grabbed it. The twins giggled and Simon lowered his face in shame” (P. 78). Simon simply gave his piece of meat to Piggy disregarding the consequences of his actions. Possibly Jack may not have given him another piece of meat. The hunters may have beaten him for helping the one that their chief detests. These highly probable outcomes did not stop Simon from helping Piggy. From the way that Simon spends his afternoons to his attitude towards the other boys, Simon is the foremost display of human goodness amongst all the boys.

On the other hand, Roger being violent and cruel is the biggest source of evil throughout all the boys. During the incident at castle rock, Ralph, Piggy and Samneric had approached Jack’s tribe in an attempt to talk some sense into the other boys. Ralph had come to question Jack of his malicious acts in stealing Piggy’s glasses as well as requesting them to help keep the signal fire burning. Roger had already anticipated a fight or some sort of commotion. During the initial confrontation, talks he was testing how rocks would bounce by “aiming to miss” when flinging the rocks at the twins (P. 194). Nothing had happened yet and already Roger was plotting an attack against Ralph. However it was when Piggy was speaking that Roger finally attacked.

The storm of sound beat at them, an incantation of hatred. High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.

Ralph heard the great rock long before he saw it. He was aware of a jolt in the earth that came to him through the