Lord Of The Flies Ptsd Character Analysis

It is commonly known that trauma and tragedy will typically cause change in the mental state of a person, and two people going through the same event will most likely not react in the same way. William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, provides a good argument for this. Several of the characters, such as Jack, Ralph, and Piggy go through noticeable changes in personality and sanity throughout the course of the book, but one of the characters that experiences the most prominent change is Simon. Golding’s character of Simon is described as a boy that is small in stature and large in thought. William Golding was in the Royal Navy during WWII, which likely resulted in seeing a fair share of PTSD. While there was not much known about this …show more content…
While the other boys adjust to the island and become aggressive and defensive, Simon remains fairly similar to how he most likely was before the crash as far as insightfulness, kindness, and general moralities. This could be interpreted as him detaching himself from the reality of the crash and being in a state of denial. After all of the boys have introduced themselves after their plane crashes, they attempt to start building a fire and a structure for shelter. This is when the tension between the more dominant characters first builds. Golding writes, “ ‘A fat lot of you tried,’ said Jack contemptuously. ‘You just sat’” (Golding 42). This shows the way that most people would react to things not going well in a stressful situation. People who may not have been very controlling potentially could have a personality change to adjust to a situation in which being bossy and dominant would be helpful or even crucial. Simon, however, does not make this adjustment. Despite the aggression and savageness that overcomes the other boys, Simon holds concern for others and puts care for the others as a priority. In Xiaofang Li and Weihua Wu’s article on character symbolization, it is stated that, “Of all the other children on the island, only Simon acts morally not out of some guilt or shame but out of his inherent value. His affection for the other boys never wanes like a saint” (Li 1). Simon is often referred …show more content…
While at a meeting regarding the beast, Jack speaks about the idea of Ralph as a leader. He says, “He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn’t a proper chief…. He’s not a hunter. He’d never have got us meat. He isn’t a prefect and we don’t know anything about him. He just gives orders, and expects people to obey for nothing” (Golding 126). This shows the boys turning on each other even further and the tension rising between Jack and Ralph. Simon, however, seems to be the only one that does not pick a side. This is an excellent of how his state of mind differs from that of the other boys. Simon disconnects from the group and goes to the forest to be in solitude, where he encounters the severed pig’s head. The Lord of the Flies speaks to Simon in a hallucination, which occurs due to his lapse in mental stability. This is a crucial point when readers start to understand the severity of Simon’s change in consciousness. Lawrence S. Friedman says, “All fables contain morals; and the moral of Lord of the Flies is stated most explicitly in the confrontation between Simon and the pig 's head….The Lord of the Flies has invaded Simon 's forest sanctuary to preach an age-old sermon: evil lies within man whose nature is inherently depraved” (Friedman 2). This shows the way that Simon’s mind is dealing with the overall trauma of the plane crash- by creating the profound