Lord Of The Flies

Simon is perhaps the most important character in the novel for he is the first and only character to come to the realization that the Beast is inside them all, and is not represented by a physical manifestation. Simon is a follower, not a leader. He believes and trusts what Ralph, his leader, says. That's why he mentions that the beast could be inside all of them once, and immediately discards that because Ralph doesn't think so. His confrontation with the Lord of the Flies is the only way he can liberate that information to himself. The encounter begins with "Even if he shut his eyes the sow's head still remained like an after-image." This represents the beginning of the fixation Simon is having on the head, thinking of it even after he shuts his eyes. Golding then points out that the pig had half shut eyes and were dim with infinite cynicism of adult life. Those details come back a little later. It's at this point where Simon asks himself a question and answers it aloud. " 'I know that.' Simon discovered that he had spoken aloud". "He opened his eyes quickly and there was the head grinning amusedly in the strange daylight, ignoring the flies, the spilled guts, even ignoring the indignity of being spiked on a stick." That sentence shows the continuing evolution of the fixation Simon has in this encounter. The first thing he sees when he opens his eyes is the head, and he ignores every detail around it. This is when Simon comes to the realization that his original conclusion is credible, the one he let be because of Ralph. He looks away, trying to forget the head even exists, but cannot accomplish that task.. He pulls himself back to the head "Might not the beast come for it?", simply because he believes the Beast is not a physical manifestation, therefore being impossible for it to come. According to Simon, the head seems to agree with him. At this point, he knows the Beast doesn't exist physically, but he is hesitant none-the-less. The head says "Run away [...] go back to the others. It was a joke really--why should you bother? You were wrong, that's all. A little headache, something you ate, perhaps. Go back, child." Simon is making excuses for himself through the pig. Here, the fixation on the head is nearly complete. There is nothing around them, not even the butterflies. "Even the butterflies deserted the open space where the obscene thing grinned and dripped." As he nears the head, the flies eventually find their way to Simon. The sow's head is called Lord of the Flies because the flies are attracted to it, it has a power over the flies. Now that the flies are on Simon, he himself also has power over the flies, and in doing so also becomes the Lord of the Flies. That is proven by a simple sentence that follows "[...] and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition". Simon can flee or "escape" anything except himself. That is what Golding meant by saying "inescapable recognition". Simon realizes that the Lord of the Flies is him, his inner evil, which is why he was able to make excuses for himself using the head. Now that we have established that Lord of the Flies is Simon talking to himself, the conversation they have can be analysed much further. "You are a silly little boy" - The Lord of the Flies. Simon tells himself this because he is now positive, without any doubt, that the Beast is actually the evil that resides in all of them. He realizes that he was right all along, and that he shouldn't of let the issue be because of Ralph. Now it is too late. "Don't you agree?" is a metaphorical question, simply asked because Simon tries desperately to make the distinction that the Lord of the Flies and he are two different things; that he possesses no evil inside him. "They think you're batty. You don't want Ralph to think you're batty, do you? You like Ralph a lot, don't you? And Piggy, and Jack?". Simon still tries to convince himself he was wrong, that Ralph and the others were right. He wants their acceptance, and in his eyes, going