Book Club entry #3

Simon had a very important role in chapters 8 and 9. In chapter 8 Simon talks to the pig head on the stick that Jack left for the beast. The image of the sow disturbed Simon and made him feel sick. He began speaking with the pig head, talking to himself aloud. It was the only way that Simon could speak his mind and what he felt. The sow's voice was what everyone else thought about Simon. Since Simon had different opinions from the rest of the boys, he always kept quiet, so he never really got to speak his mind. In a way Simon was warning himself, trying to convince himself that he should act like the others, because he knew that if he didn't something bad would happen. This is a very important part in the novel, because for the first time "the lord of the flies" is mentioned. The lord of the flies is the sow’s head on a stick who claims to also be the beast. I believe that the pig head has valid opinions about human nature. I agree with what he is saying to Simon, the sow seems to believe that human nature is selfish and ugly. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” (143). This quote shows how people are really only looking out for themselves. The pig head is saying that the boys don't really care about Simon and that he is alone. The pig is saying that the beast is within people, it's not an animal or thing, it’s in every human being.
In chapter 9 Simon dies. At the end of chapter 8 Simon fainted and then later woke up after having an epilepsy attack at the beginning of chapter 9. Simon spotted the other boys who were feasting on the pig Jack and his hunters had killed. He came stumbling through the forest to tell the other boys about the beast (the dead parachutist), while the boys were chanting and dancing like savages. The boys were hooked on the dancing, and they couldn't stop. When they saw Simon in the center of the circle they had created with their bodies, not one of them did anything to stop the other boys. They all had a group mentality, which affected their morality. They chanting boys were overcome with the intensity and excitement of what they were doing. This led to all the boys brutally beating Simon to death. "The water rose farther and and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble...The body lifted a fraction of an inch from the sand and a bubble of air escaped from the mouth with a wet plot." This quote shows why Simon's death is such a crucial part in the book. His death is one of the turning points in the story. Simon throughout the whole novel gave us hope, he didn't think like the other boys, he was superior, almost like a god. When he died, all the hope of the boys staying together and taking care of each other was gone. “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leap on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and movements but the tearing of teeth and claws." (153). Simon's death was also important because it showed us how evil and primitive the little school boys from the beginning of the book had become. This event demonstrates the loss of innocence. The words in the quote (bit, tore, teeth, claws...) seem to be describing a beast. This is what the pig head was talking about, how the beast wasn't a thing, but a something evil in all of us. Like i have said before, when people are put in a bad place, they will do bad things.