Iyer,+Sasha

 LORD OF THE FLIES:CHAPTER 11
 * In this chapter we can see that Piggy is starting to stand up for himself. Which he never did in the beggining of the book. Piggy is relying on the conch for this, even though the conch does not have te same meaning as it did in the beginning of the book. Piggy is the one who clings on to it.
 * In this chapter, we see Ralph losing himself. He momentarily forgets why they need to go to Jack. So there are still chances of him turning into a savage.
 * When Piggy dies, the narrator compares him to a Piggy. He did it to show how helpless Piggy was.
 * When Piggy dies, the conch is broken into a thousand fragments. So this shows that the conch, which represents democracy, dies with him..and nothing is even left of the conch to attach it together again.
 * First Jack was the one who left all alone, after learning that noone wants him as chief anymore.Now its Ralph who is the one is all alone, literally all alone.
 * Now Jack knows that he has all the power, and noone can do anything! With out anyone to tell him what to do, and to tell him if he is doing somethiing wrong, then he will do the worst possible things.
 * So we learn that in our normal world if there isnt any rules, then all of us are just savages. Rules are what prevents us from becoming savages.

CHARACTER ESSAY: SIMON

Q: How Simon remains the way he is through out the book, whereas the other characters around him are changing. //Great idea Sasha - this will work well.//  //Sasha - I suggest focusing on Simon alone. I think you can make your point without comparing him to the other characters - the goal is depth, not breadth. Identify key moments for Simon in the text and then show how Golding's language communicates the steadiness of Simon's character in the fast changing atmosphere of the island//
 * Compare Simon( who continues to be the civilised one)with Jack(who is the first one who turns into savage)
 * Compare Simon with Ralph and Piggy. who we think are the boys who will never chage their ways, and not turn into savages.
 * The effect of the island on all the boys, and how it changes something in all of them, but nothing in Simon.

CHARACTER ESSAY: SIMON

Q: How Simon is the only character in the book who remains the way he is, whereas the other characters around him are changing.

A: INTRODUCTION: Golding uses a variety of words to describe his characters, in the book " Lord of the Flies". He gives us detailed descriptions of their personalites and their physical appearances. Throughout the book, all the characters are changing with changing environment. With Simon its a different case.Even though all the characetrs around him are changing, he continues to remain the boy to whom we were introduced to in the beginning. I will be exploring the unchanging character of Simon. I will analyze the character of Simon in different situations and find out whether he remains the same way till the end. If he does remain the same, then we can say that Simon is a character who is unchanged till the end. After Ralph blows into the conch, to see if anyone else has survived the plane crash, the last people to enter is the choir. Jack Merridew is the leader of the choir and Simon is a part of the choir. This is when we first see Simon, the boy who fainted(" then one of the boys flopped on his face in the sand"). From this we can get the impression that Simon is a character who is physically weak, unlike the other characters.The author does not describe Simon when he is introduced whereas detailed descriptions are given for others when they are introduced. Simon's physical description is given only when Jack, Ralph and Simon go on a expedition.He is described as a skinny, vivid( which is normally not used to descibe the physical description of someone!) little boy, with a glance that comes from under a hut of straight hair that hung down black and coarse. The fact that he has used "vivid" for someones physical description is exceptional.Vivid means something colorful,and it's normally used for paintings. The fact that Golding has used vivd suggests that, Simon is character who looks at life in a serious manner and understands life.When Golding describes Simon as "skinny", he again might be reminding us about him being weak,and sensitive.When Ralph choses Simon to come with him for the expediton, we all wonder why he chose Simon out of all the people. If we notice closely, then we can see that Golding has chosen three different types of leaders. All three of them have different kinds of personalities.What Golding wants us to see is that, Simon also has the qualities of becoming a leader, he maybe weak but he is a kind, caring, sincere and understanding leader. So the main points we get about Simon from the first chapter are, that he is weak, sensitive, quiet but also understanding.

We see Simon again in the third chapter(Huts on the Beach). After Jack is back from hunting, Ralph tells him about how no one is helping him build the shelters and Simon is the only one who had not wandered off, but instead stayed back and helped him in building the huts("All day have been working with Simon. No one else. They're off bathing, or eating, or playing."). Here we see that Simon is also the helpful boy.Soon Jack and Ralph express their feeling about how they have heard the little ones, screaming in the night, in their sleep, it seems like that both Jack and Ralph are almost convinced that the beastie does exsist. Here Simon is the one who is shown as the optimist, the one who doesnt believe in beastie(" as if the beastie or the snake thing is real. Remember?"). When Simon voices his opinion Jack and Ralph are surprised that Simon had shared his opinion with them, and so here again we know that Golding still reminds us that Simon is a quiet boy and that is the impression he has given the others also. Then Jack and Ralph have a fight, Simon gets very irritated and walks away, somewhere to be alone..A person who is weak, and sensitive, you will expect them to be a person who likes to be alone also, and spend sometime with themsleves. So in the second chapter also, we can see that Golding has stuck to his idea of Simon, a quiet boy, and he has added another idea about Simon, that he is helpful.

Chapter four( Painted faces and Long Hair). In this chapter, they almost had the chance of being rescued, but for the stupidness of Jack who was not watching over the fire. When it died, no one was there to light it up again. So Ralph goes upto Jack and demands where he was when he should have been looking after the fire. Jack replies that they had gone for hunting and had finally caught a pig. Ralph is too angry to listen to anything. When Piggy trys to help Ralph in solving the problem, Jack gets angry with Piggy and slaps his face which causes Piggy's glasses to fly off his face. Simon immedialtely comes to his aid, and gives him his galsses back which had fallen on the ground. Here we see Simon as a reliable helper. When they are having a feast on the pig that was caught, Piggy is the only one who doesnt get any meat. Simon, as he wanted to help Piggy, throws a piece of his meat towards to Piggy, who eats it ravenously. Here again we see his affection towards others, especially Piggy. Simon embodies a kind of innate spiritual human goodness. Simon's character remains unchanged till now.

Chapter eight( Gift for the Darkness) Here, we see that Jack is starting to get sick of Ralph being the chief. Therefore he holds a meeting and asks the kids again whom they want to be the chief, Jack or Ralph. Since they vote again for Ralph, Jack walks off, and says that he is making a group of his own, where they will have fun, and anyone can join him. Many of the boys join Jack. When Piggy and Ralph are checking who all stayed behind, they find that Simon is missing. At that time, Simon is once again in the forest and spending some time with himself.Simon has confidence which enables him to go off on his own. You feel his connection to nature.When he is by himself, Simon hears voices and sees that it is Jack and his group. They had just caught a pig, and cut its head out and propped it up on a stick, as a gift for the beast. Simon also happens to be close to where the head is proppped up. He is described as a " small brown image, concealed by the leaves". Here again we see the innocence of Simon. When Simon starts talkin to himself, the head also seems to voices its opinions, but "silently", which suggets that maybe the, all this is happening within ones head. When Simon continues having a talk with the pig's head, whom he refers to as the Lord of the Flies, he slowly realises that all this while the beast was within them.(" You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why its no go? Why things are what they are?").Simon realizes that the inner beast has been causing all their fears and chaos around them. As in the beginning, I said that Simon is a guy who is realistic and understands life.Simon has a level of understanding that is worldly.He is the only boy who realizes the exsistence of the inner beast. The voice of reason becomes silent at the end of this chapter when he gets killed by his friends who take him for the beast.

CONCLUSION:Simon is a character who is alienated from the rest of the group. He takes life serioulsy and is often plagued by moral consciousness. He maybe physically weak, but he is sensitive and helpful. He has confidence and belief in himself which could have made him a leader. With his heightened perception, he is the only one to hear the voice of the beast. He knows that the beast cannot be killed because it is inside the boys. He is the only character unaffected by the changing environment.