These are words that William Golding describes humans in their natural form. According to Golding's assertion, all humans are savage at heart, always ultimately reverting back to the evil beasts they were born as. Yet, it is clearly seen that in today's society, not everyone acts like beasts and savages, hunting down one another and performing outrageous acts of evil deeds. The teachings and forces of civilization is what constrains humans from behaving the way they normally would in their free states. Once humans are separated from society's rules, their natural existence of evil will dominate. This is illustrated in Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies. Golding demonstrates his pessimistic assessment of human nature by using a group of boys stranded on an island as a microcosm of society. Eventually, as the boys" time away from the taming society increases, the evil existing within them grows. However, this does not apply to only one of the characters -- Simon. Simon is good at heart, resembles a Christ-like figure, and he is the only one to recognize the true identity of the "beast" that every boy terribly fears. Despite Golding's assertion that humans are naturally savages and evil, Simon is one whose nature seems to oppose this, for throughout the book it can be seen that he holds within himself a natural, uncivilized goodness. .
Simon portrays his innate, human goodness through his actions. Simon was the only one helping Ralph build the huts, while the other boys had already run off to play and have fun. "All day I've been working with Simon. No one else. They"re off bathing, or eating, or playing." (50)This shows that Simon is one of the few boys who works for the good of the group rather than doing otherwise for self-pleasure. Seeing that Simon sacrifices his time to work for a good cause indicates his goodness, wisdom, discipline, and dedication to the common good. Furthermore, Simon sincerely cares about the other boys.
