Who did Simon represent during his conversation with the beast?

Question

The Beast's conversation with Simon is one of my favorite conversations in literature. The fact that the beast represents the devil (Beelzebub specifically), leads me to think that Simon is playing the role of Jesus or an angel.

Are there any other examples in the book that portray Simon as a holy creature?

Answer 1

There are many ways Simon can be seen as a Christ figure. Among the largest scale ones are:

• Simon is never violent, and he never becomes as savage as the others
• Simon always helps other people and is never mean to Piggy or any of the littl'uns
• In fact he goes so far as to pick the fruit that the little'uns can't reach and give it to them. He therefore gets a crowd of people who follow him--similar to the followers of Christ.
• He understands that the beast is within the humans, that the beast is human nature and not some other entity
• The quest to find the beast on the mountaintop is a pretty blatant reference to Jesus and to holy figures in general; he goes somewhere to achieve something (salvation, for example) and comes back changed.
• Simon's death, trying to inform the savages of what he has found out about the beast, represents Jesus's death as well. Simon dies thought to be the beast, but simply trying to spread the truth that he is not, in fact, the beast.