2.1.3 The interpretation of human darkness in Jack
Jack is another character who can frequently be seen as symbolic. Throughout his stay on the island, Jack often lets his hair hang in his face. With long hair representing loss of civilization, this shows that from the beginning Jack lets go of civilization and does not make an attempt to regain it. Jack is portrayed as a symbol of anarchy and loss of civilization. Jack is the first boy to reveal his inner evil. From the very beginning Jack is obsessed with the idea of killing something. Jack becomes fixated on the idea of killing a pig. When he finally gets his chance to kill, the piece of civilization inside him stops him. At this point, Jack is still remotely civilized. He is conditioned to know that killing is bad and does not act upon his urges to kill. He even seems to be a bit squeamish about blood. This shows that Jack’s inner evil has not yet been fully revealed. Jack’s inner evil gradually takes over his mind and his actions. After not being able to kill the pig, Jack let’s the signal fire go out. This shows that he has no desire to be rescued. Jack never even talks about being rescued or looks to the future because he knows that means going back to civilization. Also, he never looks to the future because he knows there is no future in the lifestyle he is beginning. If Jack succeeds in converting life into his preferred evil ways of living, all the children would end up killing each other and there would be no future. Regardless, Jack would rather let his inner evil take over because it gives him a sense of power. This sense of power makes him not want to go back to his old, civilized ways of living. Nonetheless, not killing the pig the first time makes Jack’s urge to kill even stronger. Jack sticks to his word and next time he sees a pig, he does indeed kill it. Jack’s inner evil slowly becomes revealed. His urges to kill become stronger than his conditioned conscience and his morals. Slowly but surely Jack's desire to kill becomes more prominent and more inhumane. Jack’s inner evil becomes fully revealed when he is able to kill a mother pig with no second thoughts or remorse. It is obvious that blood no longer bothers him like it did when he was about to kill the first pig. Jack no longer has any sense of civilization or how he was brought up and conditioned to act. This shows Jack's loss of civilization and revelation of inner evil. Soon after, Jack’s inner evil is in fully exposed when he begins to hunt for Ralph. Jack kills Ralph last because Ralph is the last person Jack views as a threat to his goals. Jack is afraid Ralph might prevent him from taking complete control of the island, since initially Ralph was the leader. Jack seems to feel the only way to gain control over Ralph is to kill him. Jack is now beyond killing only animals, he is actually planning on killing another human being. He has no regards for anything he has been taught and does not care that he is going to take another human’s life. He is focused solely on taking over with his inner evil and not being rescued.
2.1.4 The interpretation of human darkness in Simon
Simon is another major character in Lord of Flies because he is the Christ figure. Simon represents natural human goodness. Simon, much like Piggy, is always out to help people and never acts selfishly or cruelly to any of the other boys [8]. Simon picks up Piggy’s glasses when they get knocked off, tries to comfort the boys when they are worried by the beast, and even gives Piggy his meat when Jack refuses to give him any. Many of Simon's actions are similar to those of Christ. Simon gives the boys the fruit they cannot reach. Simon giving Piggy his meat and this particular scene are similar to that of Christ giving out bread to the masses. Simon does not want to have anything to do with the killing and evil that is happening on the island. At no point while on the island does Simon’s “inner evil” show, leading to the belief that he is indeed a Christ figure who has no inner evil. A further symbol that links Simon to religion is his ability to speak with the Lord of Flies. While in his special clearing Simon is able to communicate with the Lord of Flies, which is in actuality the dead pig’s head. Clearly, the dead head does not essentially talk to him. This is the point that Simon has a spiritual revelation and realizes the “beast” the children are afraid of is actually the evil living inside each of them. This spiritual revelation powers Simon to investigate the “beast” at the top of the mountain, which ultimately leads to his death. “The beast was harmless and horrible; and the news must reach the others as soon as possible.” [5] After discovering what the beast truly is, Simon feels the need to let the others know so they too can be comforted. Seemingly mistaken for the “beast” coming down from the mountain, the children murder Simon. After realizing what they’ve done, the children make excuses for killing Simon. Although the children say they killed Simon because they thought he was the beast, in reality they were aware of what they were doing behind a haze of fear and frenzy. Jack, especially, knew what he was doing. Jack views Simon the same way he views Piggy: as a threat to his goals to dominate with evil. Jack seems to understand that Simon has no weakness when it comes to evil, which is why Jack feels the need to kill Simon first. The rest of the children join in killing Simon because of their own inner evil. Their inner evil was too strong and had taken a hold of them and the children begin to succumb to it.
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