Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Biblical Parallels
Many critics have characterized Lord of the Flies as
a retelling of episodes from the Bible. While that description may
be an oversimplification, the novel does echo certain Christian
images and themes. Golding does not make any explicit or direct
connections to Christian symbolism in Lord of the Flies;
instead, these biblical parallels function as a kind of subtle motif
in the novel, adding thematic resonance to the main ideas of the
story. The island itself, particularly Simon’s glade in the forest,
recalls the Garden of Eden in its status as an originally pristine
place that is corrupted by the introduction of evil. Similarly,
we may see the Lord of the Flies as a representation of the devil,
for it works to promote evil among humankind. Furthermore, many
critics have drawn strong parallels between Simon and Jesus. Among
the boys, Simon is the one who arrives at the moral truth of the
novel, and the other boys kill him sacrificially as a consequence
of having discovered this truth. Simon’s conversation with the Lord
of the Flies also parallels the confrontation between Jesus and
the devil during Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, as told in
the Christian Gospels.
However, it is important to remember that the parallels
between Simon and Christ are not complete, and that there are limits
to reading Lord of the Flies purely as a Christian
allegory. Save for Simon’s two uncanny predictions of the future,
he lacks the supernatural connection to God that Jesus has in Christian
tradition. Although Simon is wise in many ways, his death does not
bring salvation to the island; rather, his death plunges the island
deeper into savagery and moral guilt. Moreover, Simon dies before
he is able to tell the boys the truth he has discovered. Jesus,
in contrast, was killed while spreading his moral philosophy. In
this way, Simon—and Lord of the Flies as a whole—echoes
Christian ideas and themes without developing explicit, precise
parallels with them. The novel’s biblical parallels enhance its
moral themes but are not necessarily the primary key to interpreting
the story.
