Simon Assignment

Define the following terms:

morality: death, loss of life.

spirituality: the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.

martyr: a person who is killed because of their religious or other beliefs.

Answer the following questions:

1. Is Simon a martyr? Why or why not?

Simon can be considered a martyr because he represents the “Christ figure”, in the larger allegory. He has a kind heart, and is the purest of the boys. He does not stand with Jack, who represents savagery or with Ralph, who represents civilization. He helped everyone believing  in the kindness of humanity, and were killed because the beast lead the other boys to savagery and darkness. He believed till the end that the beast was not real.

2.  How does spirituality lend itself to the pursuit of being a good person?

Spirituality helps to find meaning in the life, it let people understand and realize that there’s more to discover and to look at than just ourselves. This quality is often visible in difficult times, when people start questioning about life. When people are concerned of the goodness of humans and life they become a good person by themselves.

3.  What are saintly qualities?

Saintly qualities are the qualities that relate or resemble to a saint. For example kindness, generosity, simplicity, patience, loyalty, integity and empathy. In the book Simon possesses these saintly qualities, so he could represnt the figure of Christ.

4.  Find three passages from that highlight Simon’s good / spiritual /saintly qualities.  Describe how they illustrate Simon’s character?

•  “Then amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon find them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands.” (57). This quote shows Smon’s good personality. He shows kindness, patience and generosity toward the littluns. He stops to help them to reach the high fruit branches, and they follow him into the forest as a figure for them to follow, like Christ.
• “What I mean is …. maybe it’s only us.”(96) This quote shows that Simon does not believe in the beast. He thinks that the fear of the beast is inside each of them. He has the capacity to think diffrently from the rest of the boys and understand what the others can’t. This could be referring, in the larger allegory, that it is easier to fear the beast than it is to face the reality that they’re actually afraid of each other.
• “You’ll get back to where you came from” (121). In this quote it is evident that Simon knows that Ralph will return home and he is foreshadowing Ralph’s future. He has a deeper understanding regarding the nature. His spiritual and saintly qualities are shown as he reassures Ralph that he will be saved.

5.  Answer the following question in a paragraph:  How does the Simon’s behavior and his treatment by the other boys so far sit into the larger allegory of the story this far

Simon’s good behaviour and actions are respected by Ralph, the littluns, Piggy and even the hunters. He is the one who helps Ralph building shelters, who saves Piggy from Jack’s violence and he also helps the littluns to reach the high fruit braches. He represents Christ in the larger allegory, because of his saintly qualities and spirituality. Beside that he is a shy person so he is not noticed much from the others. Even when he tries to tell his opinion about the beast, which is only created by the boys fear, nobody really listen. Golding is trying to tell that not always the good ideas and actions are listened or appreciated by the society. The people will only listened to who they think is capable and appears attractive to them. Simon’s spirituality is shown when he sits alone in the jungle and admire the nature. He creates a connection with the nature, for example the light buds represent hope, spirituality, light and also religion for him.