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Monday, April 28, 2014
Beasties to the left...beasties to the right....
From the moment that the boy with the mulberry birthmark asked "What about the beastie," beasties have filled the imaginations of the boys. At the end of Chapter 5, Ralph wishes for a sign from the adult world. His wish is granted with the arrival of the dead paratrooper, which the boys now believe to the be a beasties. In chapter 6, Simon asks the other boys, "What the dirtiest thing there is?" Later, Golding writes "however Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick." What is it that Simon knows or understands what the other boys do not. Answer Simon's question and explain the final quotes passage by Golding given in this question. (The deadline to post a response is midnight, April 29, 2014.)
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In Chapter Five, "A Beast from Water," Simon speaks up when the boys are having a conversation about the "beast" that is said to be on the island stalking them. He asks, "What's the dirtiest thing here is?" Simon asks this as a way to help the boys realize that there is really no beast on the island, but instead, the beast is themselves- dirty, savage, little boys. They are the dirtiest things on the island because of how savage they have become by throwing away morals of their "old life." Nevertheless, the boys do not listen to Simon and he is still the only one who knows the truth about the beast. Within chapter six, the boys call another meeting about the beast because Samneric had definitely seen it. While the twins go on describing it as a terrifying beast with its sharp teeth and ripping claws, Simon sees it as a "picture of a human at once heroic and sick." Simon sees the beast this way because he knows that the beast is the boys, who were once vibrant and carefree, but have now thrown civilization away and have exchanged it for a life of savagery and killing. When Golding uses the word "sick," he is referring to the boys directly as they have shied away from civilization and instead are falling apart and "sick" without it.
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