R.I.P. Simon

Marisa Montgomery
6th Period
Response to Simon's Death

   It seems to me that the death of Simon was the death of any goodness or religion the boys had on the island. This isn't just the death of Simon, it's the death of each and every one of their souls. Simon was the religious figure on the island. The littluns looked up to him because he helped them and fed them fruit. When the boys killed Simon, they lost all hope of being good. The only thing left on the island now is evil.
  From the very beginning, Jack has primarily been the one to want to have 'fun'. He let the signal fire go out so that they could go kill a pig. He continuously chooses killing over being rescued. Now that Jack has separated himself from Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric, the other boys paint and garland him like an idol. After Simon is killed, there is no longer a representation for good. Jack is treated like an 'idol' and he is the only role model they have left.
  Shortly before his death, Simon had a hallucination and was seemingly talking to 'The Lord of the Flies', which is the head of the dead sow on a stick. The Lord of the Flies said to Simon, "Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!" "You knew didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they are?"
   Just like Simon had suggested at the meeting, there was nothing to be afraid of on the island but the boys themselves. They all have evil in them, they are the beast. Just as the dead sow said to Simon in his hallucination, this is why things are the way they are on the island. This is why they can't go home. The evil inside of them is overpowering and that is why they care very little about escaping the island. They enjoy being savages. That's what they have become. The beast isn't something they can kill, because it's in all of them. The boys have transformed into 'the Beast' and killed the last silver of goodness they had left.
   When Simon was coming to them as they were chanting, he was only trying to give them the information they needed to not be scared anymore. They killed the thing that would stop their fear. That might help them get a little closer to making it home. They killed hope, wisdom, and goodness and in turn chose fear, evil, and darkness.
   The weather mirrors what is going on around them. It is a rainy thunderstorm. All the light has left the sky, just like the goodness has left the island now that Simon is gone.This is the point of no return.