What does Simon suggest about the beast?

In Lord of the Flies, Simon suggests that the beast is inside the boys themselves, rather than a real creature hiding somewhere on the island. During the assembly in Chapter 5, after the younger boys describe their fear of the beast, Simon takes the conch and tries to explain what he senses: “What I mean is... Maybe it's only us...” He cannot fully express the idea, and the others react badly. Piggy dismisses it as crazy, and many of the boys misunderstand Simon as talking about ghosts.

Simon’s suggestion cuts through both Ralph’s and Jack’s responses to fear. Ralph tries to deny the beast’s existence through rules and rational discussion, while Jack treats the beast as something that can be hunted and killed. Simon sees that both approaches miss the point: the real danger is the boys’ own capacity for violence, fear, and cruelty.

Later, Simon’s insight is confirmed in his vision of the pig’s head, the Lord of the Flies, which tells him, “I'm the Beast... Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!... You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?” Simon then climbs the mountain and discovers that the supposed beast is only a dead parachutist. When he returns to tell the others, they mistake him for the beast and kill him in a frenzy.

Simon’s idea makes him the one boy who truly understands the island’s horror. The boys fear a monster outside themselves, but their own actions become the real source of terror in the novel.