Simon's Death in "Lord of the Flies"

Golding uses the death of Simon to portray a death of goodness on the island and in the boys. This essay will explore how, with the use of language and imagery, how Golding shows this in chapter 9 of "Lord of the Flies".

Golding uses the weather and the technique of pathetic fallacy throughout the chapter to show the build up of tension on the island and then a release of all the built up tension. At the beginning of the chapter, Golding describes the clouds gathering, "Over the island the build-up of clouds continued" the clouds represent the boys' savagery starting to grow. Then later in the chapter, "Piggy inspected the looming sky", the evil continues to build up, and then, it all breaks, after a gathering of evil, the evil breaks loose, "Between the flashes of lightening, the air was dark and terrible". In this terrible frenzy, the sin of murder is committed.

Lord of the Flies

Oliver Golding

Mohawk VS Goldings

The extremity of the weather reflects the extremity of the boys' actions and their savagery. After Simon has been killed the weather is described as lighter, "Towards midnight, the rain ceased and the clouds drifted away" the intensity of before has finished and swept away the evil, although perhaps only temporarily...

Golding uses horrific language to show the savagery of the boys in this frenzy, "Screamed, struck, bit, tore" these strong verbs give us a sense of the evil being done. It also shows that the savagery of the boys has been building up since they arrived at the island; it is not a recent thing and because of how, when the pressure is released, almost like a volcano they lose complete control and the anger erupts, "the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed". Again, powerful verbs are used to convey...