Mob Mentality, the Beastie, the Island

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Mob Mentality, the Beastie, the Island

• February 26, 2007

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Simon Symbolism continued

• Like Jesus, Simon has a good message to give to
  the boys on the islandthe beast is not actually
  a beast, but a pilot.
• Jesus was sent to bring the Good News or the
  gospel.
• Gospel references back to Old EnglishGODSPEL
• god (good) spel (story, message)
• The Gospel messageMan and God patching up the
  relationship after the separation from the Fall
  of Man. (Remember the Garden of Eden?)
• Simons good news is the beast is not actually a
  beast, but a pilot.. Instead, he is brutally
  killed.
• Simon was crying out something about a dead man
  on a hill (152).
• The beast was on his knees in the center, its
  arms folded over its face. It was crying out
  against the abominable noise about a body over
  the hill (152).

Michelangelo, Creation of Adam
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Simon is killed by a mob like Jesus

• Mob Mentality Members of a group acting in ways
  that they would consider immoral or unjust if
  they were on their own.
• At once the crowd surged after it, poured down
  the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed,
  struck, bit, and tore. There were no words, and
  no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws
  (153)
• There was the throb and stamp of a single
  organism (152)
• In this instance, the real beast (the boys on the
  island) are revealed through their own claws and
  teeth that bite into Simon.

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Mob Killing of Simon and Jesus

• The boys chant, Kill the beast! Cut his throat!
  Spill his blood! (Chapter 9)
• Jesus innocence is presented a Roman official,
  Pilot, who asks the crowd whether or not he
  should set Jesus free.
• Mark 1513-14 Crucify him! they shouted. Why
  what crime has he committed, asked Pilot. But
  they shouted all the louder, Crucify him!
• Luke 2315-21 Pilot says, as done nothing to
  deserve death With one voice, they cried out,
  Away with this man!... They kept shouting,
  Crucify him! Crucify him!

   Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man!"), Antonio
Ciseri, 19th century
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Thomas Cole, The Expulsion from the Garden of
Eden, 1828
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Hieronymus Bosch, The Last Judgment, 1500
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(No Transcript)
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Biblical AllusionThe Island as Hell

• The island has transformed from the Garden of
  Eden to Hell.
• Hell has been described as a place where there
  will be weeping and gnashing of teeth
• Matthew 1341-43 The Son of Man will send out
  his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom
  everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
  They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
  where there will be weeping and gnashing of
  teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun
  in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears,
  let him hear.
• Gnashing definition To bite (something) by
  grinding the teeth
• Where in the story do we see weeping and gnashing
  of teeth? What and why would this reaction to
  the island be caused?

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The island becomes a place of burning and
desolation.

• The boys have burned up much of the island.
• The resources become depleted as they hunt, eat
  fruit, and burn sections up.
• Revelation 92--When he opened the Abyss, smoke
  rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic
  furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the
  smoke from the Abyss.
• Revelation 1411--And the smoke of their torment
  rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or
  night for those who worship the beast and his
  image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his
  name."

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• Piggy, Ralph, Samnericdeny their role in the
  circle but they are also part of the mob.
• Were they really part of the mob, or are they
  just trying to convince themselves they are not
  as guilty for Simons death?
• We left early, said Piggy quickly, because we
  were tired.
• So did we.
• Very early
• We were very tired.
• Sam touched a scratch on his forehead and then
  hurriedly took his hand away. Eric fingered his
  split lip.
• Yes, We were very tired, repeated Sam, so we
  left early. Was it a good
• The air was heavy with unspoken knowledge. Sam
  twisted and the obscene word shot out of him.
  dance?
• Memory of the dance that none of them had
  attended shook all four boys convulsively (Ch
  10, 158).

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Ralph and Piggys Fear of the Beast

• Why do Piggy and Ralph believe there is a beast?
• Desperately, Ralph prayed that the beast would
  prefer littleuns. Its come! gasped Piggy,
  Its real! (166)
• What has happened since the beginning of novel,
  when Ralph and Piggy dismissed the beast as not
  being real?

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Ralphs continue desire for civilization

• (Ch 10, 164) His mind skated to a consideration
  of a tamed town where savagery could not set
  foot. What could be safer than the bus center
  with its lamps and wheels?
• (Ch. 7, 112) Ralph thinks about his life back in
  England, he describes it as a place where
  Everything was all right everything was good
  humored and friendly.
• In chapter 10, when Ralph thinks about the wild
  ponies in Dartmoor, he thinks, Dartmoor was
  wild, and so were the ponies. But the attraction
  of wildness had gone (164)
• What has changedwhy does Ralph no longer seek
  the wildness and joy in the island as he once has?