Saturday, September 24, 2011

"Passions beat about Simon on the mountain-top with awful wings." What does that mean?

Simon is one of the only boys on the island intuitive enough to recognize what was happening to the boys and their rudementary civilization.  These intuitions were the "passions," and he was best able to digest them entirely when he was alone--on a mountaintop, in the forest, on the beach.  Just as with anyone who is different or plagued with a deeper understanding or intuition (psychics, for instance), they tend to come to the bearers with mixed blessings.  They are both wonderful and terrible...gentle and awful wings. 

So, as Simon understands, he is equipped to explain to the boys what is happening.  As he understands, he becomes a threat--and he is not just the person able to educate about the beast, he becomes as feared and hated as the beast.  Before he is able to do any instruction, he is murdered on the beach and allowed to wash out to sea.

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