Chapter 9- A View to a Death

"The beast struggled forward, broke the ring, and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore...Simon's dead body moved out towards the open sea.'

Chapter 9 displayed the growing brutality of the boys on the island, and the power of the mob. After feasting on the boar, the boys decide to do their dance, yelling and thumping their feet. "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" they chant. They are so blinded by the dance even Piggy and Ralph join in, and eventually kill Simon. When a creature crawls out of the woods, they didn't notice it was Simon, and they quickly attack and kill him.

William Golding clearly voiced his opinion that human nature is terribly brutal and evil. that the boys even enjoy pretending to kill an animal is disturbing, and goes against the grain of society. That they actually murder one of their own is horrendous. All Simon was trying to do was to tell them that there was no beast, and that it was actually just a dead pilot on the mountain. Simon was the one to think: What else is there to do other than go see if the beast on the mountain is real, while Ralph and Piggy go swimming when they have free time. And Jack? He runs around killing mother pigs and offering their heads to the "Beast". Simon was the one true hero in this story, and he is brutally murdered by the mob of children. By this time in the story one realizes that the events on the island are progressing from bad to worse. In my opinion, this chapter is when the actions of the children hit rock bottom.