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- Very helpful - helps to build shelters, get the littleuns fruit etc.
- Sense of spiritualism - portrayed as a Christ-like figure both in his death and his life.
- Has inner goodness - Gives Piggy meat, helps others etc.
- Omniscient - tells Ralph that 'he'll get back.'
- Innocent and pure - does not participate in any of the rituals e.g. hunting.
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- Used to show that there are exceptions to the human condition, some people can be essentially good. However, these people are often persecuted/discriminated against (Simon is killed by the other boys).
- Is a Christ-like figure - Golding makes Simon a Christ-like figure to represent purity and essential goodness. This is shown particularly in Simon's death when his head is surrounded by a halo-like 'fringe of inquisitive bright creatures.' This is also shown when Simon hurts his head and it starts to bleed showing parallels with Christ's Crown of Thorns.
- Simon is the only one who realises what the 'beast' actually is - the inherent evil within everyone - and before he gets to show that the parachutist on the mountain is not the beast he is killed. Golding does this to show how good cannot survive in the circumstances the boys are placed under.
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- Simon is often shown to be helping others e.g. when he gets fruit for the littleuns and when he helps Ralph to build shelters. Throughout the novel he continues to do this, showing how he out of all the boys has changed minimally.
- Simon is also shown to be omniscient especially when he tells Ralph that 'he'll get back.' He however, does not mention himself. This can be interpreted as Simon predicting his own death - much like Christ.
- In Chapter 4 we see that Simon has the traits of a good friend and companion. He runs with Ralph to the fire when they realise it has gone out.
- Simon is marked as 'different' from the start of the novel when he faints. However, he is not a major character right at the beginning but develops into one. This is shown when Piggy remarks - "If I say anything, you say shut up; but if Jack or Maurice or Simon...' This shows that Simon is considered a major character and influence in the novel as one of Ralph's closer friends at this point.
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- Other parallels that Simon's story draws with the life of Christ are:
- Simon mentions a 'body on the hill' to the boys before he dies. This closely parallels the story of Christ's crucifixion where Christ was crucified on 'Golgotha' which literally translates to 'place of the skull' from Greek. Once again we remember the place in the forest where Simon goes by himself and how the pig's head/skull now lies there - Simon's place = Place of the Skull.
- Simon is taunted by the 'Lord of the Flies' in a similar fashion to how Jesus is tempted, taunted and tested by the devil when he is in the desert and is shown all the things he could have.
- Both Jesus and Simon are shown to fast. Golding writes that 'Simon shifted restlessly but there was no avoiding the sun. Presently he was thirsty, and then very thirsty. He continued to sit.' Christ also fasts showing how this element of Simon's life draws parallels to Christ's.
- When Simon goes to sit in his place in the forest it is almost like he is going into the wilderness. Jesus also went into the desert (the wilderness) where he was tested by the devil in the same way Simon is tested by the Lord of the Flies.
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