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So they had shifted camp then, away from the beast. As Simon thought this, he turned to the poor broken thing that sat stinking by his side. The beast was harmless and horrible; and the news must reach the others as soon as possible.
Here in Chapter 9, Simon discovers that the beast that the boys thought they found is, in fact, a dead human pilot. Simon wants to reassure the boys that the beast is not real. However, the dead pilot, who symbolizes war and humans’ capacity to kill each other, points to a different kind of beast, the evil that exists inside all humans. The fact that Simon is never able to deliver this news because the boys murder him underscores the fact that the beast dwells inside the characters.
Read more about Simon's discovery of the dead pilot.
They moved a little farther off over the sand and Ralph watched the fire as he ate. He noticed, without understanding, how the flames were visible now against the dull light. Evening was come, not with calm beauty but with the threat of violence.
In this scene, Ralph and Piggy have joined Jack's group to share in their feast, a pig that Jack and his hunters caught and killed. In the moments after this quote, Jack challenges Ralph as leader and asks the boys to abandon Ralph and join his tribe. Law and order are on the brink of shattering; Jack mocks the conch and mocks Ralph for believing it has any power, and suddenly, voices ring out pledging to join Jack's tribe. The evening takes a dire turn when a terrible thunderstorm begins, and Jack encourages the group to dance and chant their hunting song, whipping them into a frenzy with brutal consequences.
Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill… The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed. The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise, something about a body on the hill… At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore.
Immediately before this quote, Jack’s tribe, Ralph, and Piggy dance and chant "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!" in a frenzy after they feast on roast pig. What began as a hunting call to find and kill a pig has now become a chant to hunt and kill the beast, and this shift gives the boys permission to become even more violent. In this scene, they allow themselves to confuse Simon for the beast, and they kill him. Simon is martyred for attempting to bring them the truth about what they believed to be the beast—the pilot—and his murder symbolizes that the true beast is, in fact, the evil inside humans.
