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Unit 25: William Golding — Lord of the Flies: Detailed Study of Text-I

We may also note in Chapter Three the changes in the characters’ appearances and in the Notes
language they use. There is a significant gap of time between this chapter and the last, and
the boys have grown farther from the conventions and values of the Home Counties. Jack
hunts in the forest half-naked, and many of the boys wear “tattered shorts” or have bare feet,
details that indicate that they have abandoned the ways of home in favor of comfort and ease.
Moreover, the younger boys, referred to as “little ones” in the previous chapters, are now
called “littluns,” and Sam and Eric, the twins, have become “Samneric,” a compound that
suggests that, in the eyes of the group, the two characters are considered one. In the absence
of external authority, the boys have developed their own dress code and are beginning to
establish their own language. It is becoming an independent culture. Golding reinforces the
latter detail by reproducing the boys’ own invented words-”littluns” and “Samneric”-in his
own third-person prose. The implication is that the boys’ civilization is less a mirror of their
upbringing than it is a reflection of the unique concerns and dynamics of life on the island.
Chapter Three provides the reader with more insight into Simon’s character. Simon was introduced
in Chapter One but is not important until he interrupts Ralph’s and Jack’s argument. Described
as barefoot, long-haired, and alternately “queer” and “funny,” Simon is revealed as socially
outcast from the other boys. Yet, unlike Piggy, Simon seems content with his difference and
even cultivates it. When he, Ralph, and Jack decide to go look at the signal fire, Simon abruptly
abandons the mission without word in order to wander off into the forest with a sense of
“purpose.” Ignoring the usual rules of social interaction, which would require him to tell the
others of his plans out of politeness, Simon distinguishes himself as ruled not by society but
by an intense and even spiritual inner force. His long hair and bare feet connect him not only
to nature but to the stereotypical wandering prophet or even Jesus Christ, a link that the novel
will enforce further with his murder.
Simon’s experience in the jungle, which we read in detail, emphasizes his spiritual and peaceful
character. The open space that he settles into in the jungle is an indication that, for Simon, the
island is indeed Edenic. Unlike Ralph, who seeks to protect the group from nature, and Jack,
who seeks to conquer and control it, Simon views the natural landscape as a place of beauty
and tranquility. His excursion shows that he is the one character having an affinity with the
natural world. There are strong religious overtones in Golding’s description of the area that
Simon finds. With its candle-buds, serene stillness, and leafy walls, it recalls a place of worship.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. Ralph, a ......... year old boy with fair hair is climbing out of plane wreckage on a beach
and towards a lagoon.
2. A plane crashed in the ......... .
3. Golding indicates that Jack must prepare himself to commit a ......... .
4. Jack scans the oppressively Silent forest, looking for ......... to hunt.

5. The littluns have their own ......... and separate themselves from the older boys.
While the dialogue in Chapter Three highlights the ideological contrast between Jack and
Ralph, on a structural level, Golding also forces Jack and Simon into comparison. The chapter
begins and concludes in the forest, linking both characters to the area (in contrast to Ralph,
who is associated with the beach and mountain areas that he has marked with symbols of
civilization-the fire and shelters). Jack and Simon are both anti-civilizing characters, attracted
to the wild, untamed environment of nature, which they prefer to experience in solitude and

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