Thursday, October 16, 2008

After Simon's Death

How do Piggy and Ralph attempt to rationalize their participation in the death of Simon?
Contrast that with Jack and his group's reaction to their own participation.

12 comments:

hadar said...

Piggy wasn't able to deal with the fact that he was involved in the murder of his friend, Simon. He struggled to admit that he took part in this tragic death. But, on the other hand, Ralph accepted it and admitted that he participated in it. He expressed his grief by his hysterical laughing.

However, Jack and his savage tribe ignored the fact that they took Simon's life, and claimed that they committed this crime only for their protection. In fact, Jack feared Simon, and believed that he might return to harm his tribe because apparently he is the "beast".

Hanggi Lee said...

I agree with Hadar. Piggy constantly tries to ignore the fact that he participated in such a gruesome act. In the other hand,Ralph accepts the fact that he participated in the act of killing Simon. "That was murder." (156)

Jack just doesn't deal with the situation. He believes that he was only protecting himself from the "beast" because Simon was running down the hill looking like the beast.

Amy G said...

Piggy completley ignores the fact that they were present during the murder of Simon. Ralph, after, is shocked by what happened, but is quickly convinced by Piggy that it was a matter out of their hands. He surely did this to feel some kind of comfort, or at least a kind of sanctuary from all the guilt and self-pity he had. Jack either believes he is excluded from any guilt, since he was only "protecting" the group, or is completley oblivious to the horror that he committed.

Nate Treacy said...

I agree with Amy. Below is my reasoning.
Denial is the most instant and most predictable of human responses. Piggy and Ralph knew that savagery was taking over the island, but they knew that it was wrong to accept it. So they denied their role in his death. However, it is very hard to live with denial on that level.
Jack, however, is a "leader" so he needn't feel guilt for Simon's death. According to him. Simon was a beast who needed to be silenced.

Sergio said...

I completely agree with Nathan and Amy. Ralph and Piggy live in denial after Simon's death. However, Jack is completely and utterly unaffected. To him, it wasn't Simon that the boys killed, but an act of protection towards the group, as Nathan had said. To him, they had killed part of the beast and that it was in disguise. However, this seems like he also is in denial but he isn't because he doesn't believe / know that it was actually Simon. His group is actually fine, possibly a bit skeptic, but other than that, fine.

Erika said...

i agree with hadar. Piggy doesn't want to accept the fact that he was involved in crime scene. Ralph does accept it, but is kindoff scared. that is what i think, by the way he laughn.

Jacks' trie simply don't care. they act like if nothing even happen.i also agree with hadar in the fact that jacs fears that simon comes back and harms them.

Suz said...

I agree with my fellow peers about the boys trying to put it behind them.
Although Ralph is really stuck with it, the quote that Hanggi put shows that very well.
Piggy wants to think he was an innocent by-stander, probably because his aunty wouldn't like him to kill people. Heh...duh. He claims it was an ACCIDENT, well the last time I heard about someone being ripped to death accidentally was, well...never actually.
Jack just seems to ignore it! I don't remember anything about him saying something or recognizing it in anyway.
Overal they didn't deal with it at all they're just scared little boys hiding behind the excuse of "but we were scared, we thought he was a beast that he would hurt us, everyone else was doing it, i didn't mean to" If you look at that, they are still SO childish!

MaRy G. Miller said...

Ralph and Piggy were later in denial of the fact but I have to disagree in where Hadar says that Piggy could not deal with it because he actually could. He was the one trying to tell Ralph, who was the one freaking out, that it was ok and it wasn’t their fault that Simon had come running and there was fire and it was dark, they couldn’t see. It was mostly Ralph being affected by all this.
Jack´s tribe doesn´t talk about Simon´s death later because they have become savages and it appears to be a normal thing to kill for survival.

Armando said...

As hadar says, seems that Piggy wasn't able to accept the fact that he took part in murdering Simon, so he denies it. He keeps on telling Ralph that it wasn't their fault, it was dark and confusing, and Simon, being batty crawled out of the trees, he shouldn't have done that, and had no business in doing so according to Piggy. Ralph seems to be more terrified by what they have done, so that is why Piggy uses those arguments. " `You stop it`!" said Piggy, shrilly. ´What good're you doing talking like that?´
He jumped to his feet and stood over Raplh.
´It was dark. There was that - that bloody dance. There was lighting and thunder and rain. We was scared!´
´I wasn't scared,` said Ralph slowly, ´I was - I don't know that I was.´" (p.142)
Jack and his tribe are not affected by what they had committed, they simply didn't care.

jesi hayes said...

"'Piggy.'
'Uh?'
'That was Simon.'
'You said that before.'
'Piggy.'
'Uh?'
'That was murder'"(156). Piggy and Ralph try to blame Simon's death on the dance, but the dance worked out because everyone was involved, so they know they are guilty even though in the end they just avoid it and ignore it. They even try blaming it on Simon but atleast recognize it was their friend Simon and they admit they did wrong. "'Coming in the dark- he hadn't no buisness crawling like that out of the dark...He asked for it...It was an accident'"(157).
Jack and his group don't even aknowledge it as having been Simon. They are blindly trusting anything that Jack says and Jack says, "He[the beastie] came-disguised. He may come again even though we gave him the head of our kill to eat" (160). The group is actually proud of themselves because they ignore any quesitons they have about the true identity of what they killed, they believe they confronted the beast and were able to defeat it.

faaBy said...

Not one of them, Ralph or Piggy, accepted the fact that they had participated in the murder of Simon. Ralph was more conscious about what had really happened. Piggy kept on insisting that it had been an accident and that nobody had ever meant to hurt Simon.
When they are asked to talk about it, they state that they had been tired and had gone to bed early, or they change the subject.

Amy G said...

Usually, when you are a kid, when you do something really bad, you either ignore it or neglect the fact. It doesn't matter that this scandal was to a higher scale, but it's basically the same tension and pressure you feel when you've done something wrong. They deal with it different ways, but it all leads to the fact that they push the blame off themselves.