Joel.Simone

We had an amazing discussion on Lord of the Flies. Mr. Willis confirmed that Golding was a Christian, and this answers a lot of questions on the direction of the book. During the discussion, I noticed a key point I missed about Simon’s death, i.e., the halo of fire flies. In my essay I quoted Mr. Olander, my former high school English teacher, saying the ocean foam created a halo around Simon’s head. My memory lacked the details of Mr. Olander’s lecture, and I noticed I wasn’t particularly looking for the religious symbolism in my second reading, for I had a natural inclination towards the humanistic implications… although, I did catch the Lucifer association. Maybe I wasn’t as interested in the Christ association, and this brings me to a second note. ¶ It was suggested that Simon was symbolic of a Christ figure, and there are certainly similar characteristics. But Simon lacked a key component of Christ. I think Christ was a leader, and this was a quality that Simon didn’t have. Although, one could say he was the leader of the children, but there wasn’t much teaching or leadership exemplified. I had a fleeting thought of the holly trinity, represented by Piggy, Simon, and Ralph, but this idea is nullified, for the Father, Son, and Spirit fall short in direct character association. Ultimately, I am most interested in the interdependent relationship of the trio, how Simon, Ralph, and Piggy all needed each other, and this is associated back to my sociological fascination with the trio. Anyhow, the discussion was awesome, and I enjoyed it very much!