Ralph says of Simon ''he's queer. he's funny.'' what kind of boy is Simon?

Answer 1

Ralph says this maybe for sake of conversation, but Simon is in many ways diffrent from most of the boys. Though all of the boys on the island seem to like Simon he stays away and goes to his secret bower in the forest to be alone and have his epeleptic fits. Simon is supposed to be the christ figure in the novel because he is kind to all the boys, stands up for piggy, and even has a conversation with the Lord of the Flies (the devil) in the jungle just as Jesus did. Simon has very bright eyes and coarse black hair. He is the bravest of all of them.

Answer 2

Simon is a quite boy who keeps to himself a lot. Simon is happy to pick ripe fruit for the littluns who are unable to reach it. He admires Ralph and is happy to help him build shelters and is also happy to run an errand for Ralph, through the darkening jungle when the rest of the boys are scared of the prospect. Simon thinks a lot and seems to have realised, along with Ralph, that the beast is simply part of themselves and not some sort of creature, as most of the other boys believe. Simon faints on occasion and also seems to suffer from epilepsy, which would account for his imagined conversation with the Lord of the Flies, his nose bleed and subsequent collapse. The need to avoid being seen while experiencing an epileptic fit would also account for Simon's desire to spend time alone in his 'secret place.'

Answer 3

"He's queer, he's funny" were words used by Ralph to describe Simon when he was speaking to Jack in chapter 3: Huts on the Beach. However it wasn't said in malice but more for the sake of keeping the conversation going. In fact Ralph and Simon seemed to get on well with each other. Ralph chose Simon to accompany himself and Jack on the first climb of the mountain. Simon helped Ralph to build huts and volunteered to run alone through the jungle when Ralph suggested that they needed to inform Piggy that the biguns would be delayed in returning, in chapter 7. Simon seemed to like Ralph and told him that he thought that Ralph would get back to where he came from. There may possibly have been a degree of preadolescent homosexual attraction or hero worship involved on Simon's part. Simon did stroke Ralph's arm and when they set out to hunt the beast Simon was so preoccupied with looking at Ralph that he walked into a palm trunk. When the book was written 'gueer' generally meant odd but it was also used with reference to homosexuals. It seems more than likely that Golding knew of this association and yet he still included it in the description of Simon made by Ralph. Simon was definitely a loner, he was a bit younger than Ralph, Jack and Piggy and was apparently in the disputed area between biguns and littluns. Generally he seems to have been treated as a bigun, except that occasionally he was referred to as 'young Simon.' Simon may have suffered from epilepsy, which would explain his attack, when he held an internal conversation with the Lord of the Flies and then collapsed. He seems to have been prone to fainting too. Simon chose to spend time alone perhaps to avoid being seen during an epileptic episode and went often to his 'secret place' in the jungle. He seems to have spent much of his time thinking and had reached the conclusion that the beast was simply an externalised manifestation of the evil within every one of them. This explains why he wasn't bothered about walking alone through the jungle even at night. Simon was considerate and picked ripe fruit for the littluns.