Loss of Innocence in Lord of the Flies Essay

They are lost and alone, no one around, just them, the ocean and a tropical paradise. With no civilization, no regulations, or even mild things like a place to sleep, the young boys will find find out what they must do to survive alone in the unknown. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding the theme loss of innocence is clearly demonstrated throughout the book. The proper British boys were on a plane that crashed onto a tropical island. Without adults and the oldest boy being twelve, the boys must learn to survive themselves. Without civilization and authority to guide them, they turn to savagery and violence. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding portrays loss of innocence by exhibiting how people change when they realize what they

     As the boys on the island progress from well-behaved, orderly children longing for rescue to cruel, bloodthirsty hunters who have no desire to return to civilization, they naturally lose their innocence that they possessed earlier in the novel. But Golding does not portray this loss of innocence as something that is done to the children; rather, it results naturally from their increasing openness to the innate evil and savagery that has always existed within them.

In Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, childhood and adolescence can be interpreted as a time of not being in full control of your instincts and barbaric impulses and not being mature enough to be civilized. Golding achieves this by using symbolism in his characters and showing the consequences of the boys making an impulsive decision.

In the story “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, he shows how the boys lost all innocence and civilization. The boys went from having innocent child minds to taking lives of other people, acting savage, and losing all civilization due to problems on the island. The boys had forgotten where they came from and became savage in order to survive; it was the need of survival that caused the loss of innocence among the boys.

Evil on the innocent affects them to a manner in which they lose their innocence. This is seen when the innocents of The Lord Of The Flies and To Kill A Mockingbird encounter injustice and evil. Firstly, the injustice and evil actions can cause the innocents to lose their innocence by making the innocents question what they have known and been taught by revealing them to the harsh truth. It is seen in The Lord Of The Flies when the audience and Simon make a revelation. The beast haunting the children on the island is nothing more than the children’s own inner instinct and that which is made clear when the physical manifestation of the beast, which was the head of the pig surrounded in flies, talks to Simon in his clearing. The beast states that “QUOTE HERE INTERTWINE WELL PLZ”. This revelation, although a prior thought to Simon when he believes that the beast is “only us”(QUOTE CITE PLZ), shocks Simon into disbelief and later, unfortunately, faces the harsh truthfulness of the beast’s words as he dies to the hands of boys and their inner savagery. The harsh truth can also be seen in To Kill a Mockingbird with the character Jem. Jem is a person who believes that the legal system is a surefire way of delivering justice and that it was to never fail. During the case of Tom Robinson however, Jem faces the harsh truth. He watches as the jury convicts Tom Robinson as guilty and feels each guilty as a “separate stab between [his shoulders]”. The stabbing motion can represent the

In the beginning of the novel the boys were portrayed as young and innocent children, curious and fond of their surroundings. As the story continues, we can witness the boys going through a survival phase, according to what they witness and feel they react accordingly. They become savage and give into the evil inside of themselves, and follow no of the rules that were set. The plot later reveals that the boy’s in fact are not innocent at all. They are not even close to being innocent. William Golding does a very good job when laying out the habits and the traits of the boys.

The boys have lost their innocence when they got on the island. They are no longer childlike because they killed Simon, piggy and children don’t kill. Children are innocent, nice, and cute. Not savages saying “kill the beast cut his throat bash his head”. Children play with toys and have fun. If they hurt anyone well trying to have fun even if it's a little they will apologize and show their love.

Everyday, people of all ages lose their innocence and develop morally through their daily experiences. Children deal with mishaps on the playground, conflicts with friends and family, and trouble in school. Similarly, Adults deal with conflicts within their own families, problems at work, and the loss of a loved one. In each situation, the person is learning important lessons that impact the way a person thinks, acts, approaches situations, and treats others. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Jem loses his innocence and grows morally through his daily experiences in three stages of understanding in Maycomb, Alabama.

"...I live with regrets - the bittersweet loss of innocence - the red track of the moon upon the lake - the inability to return and do it again..." (John Geddes) This quote illustrates how the boys in the Lord of the Flies by William Goulding would feel leaving, they will live with regret for what happened on the island for the rest of their lives. For on the island is where they lose their innocence at such early ages. In the Lord of the Flies, one of the major themes is the loss of innocence. The boy’s loss of innocence is displayed throughout the novel as they shed their clothes, through the killing of the pigs, and kill Simon and Piggy.

Norman Cousins, American journalist and peace activist, once said, "The tragedy of life is not death but what we let die inside of us while we live." In the novel, Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, the characters go through a loss of innocence which can be illustrated by the words of Norman Cousins. Throughout the novel, the young boys are put in situations in which their innocence slowly dwindles away by being revealed to the born hate inside of everyone. The characters’ loss of innocence in Lord of the Flies is shown when Jack killed a pig for the first time, by the truth from the Lord of the Flies, and the gradual death of the island itself.

When reflecting on one’s childhood, one either views it as a blissful time in their life, or a hellish society in which they suffered greatly. While both scenarios are very different from one another, it is arguable that both parties experienced a loss of innocence in this time frame.The loss of innocence is something which happens to everybody, sooner or later. Growing up in society, children are exposed to many different concepts. While these concepts play an important role in everyday life, some of them may end up destroying a child’s innocence. Dealing with other people and communicating properly play an essential role in everyday life, but people with malice on their agenda may end up destroying the innocence of others. Even something as simple as learning the countermeasures to deal with the malevolence of others causes a person to lose their innocence. In order to be successful in everyday life, it is necessary for one to confront the harsh reality of our world, which would destroy their innocence.

Jack is an example of a loss of innocence because he goes from wanting rules to a level of complete savagery. Jack has the realization that killing leads to fear which brings power, so he must kill to reach the top. Once Jack paints his face and looks upon his reflection in a pool of water, he is changed, “He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling” (page 64). Jack’s excitement seems to be an indescribable possession. The intensity for the hunt represents how they are falling further. “Jack was on top of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife…Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands” (page 135). These children seem to represent that they have been brought up in innocent homes, so the killing and bloodlust is new for them. All of these specific events can show that Jack’s change in innocence

While we are growing from children into young adults, especially in the ages ten to sixteen years, we go through many changes. For some people this stage is hard, but being alone and placed in an unknown environment is even harder. At this age brains are very immature and learning lots of new things. The way we respond to things is based on the way we were brought up and our natural instincts. The author William Golding explores change in The Lord Of The Flies through the boys on the island when they are there with no adults. The way the boys react to certain situations are because of their internal factors like how they prioritize and think about things differently more than the external factor or environment influence. Throughout the novel

William Golding in his novel Lord of the Flies symbolically describes the degeneration of a civilized society in three stages. Embedded within this story of a group of young boys struggling to survive alone on a deserted island are insights to the capacity of evil within the human soul and how it can completely destroy society. After a plane crash that results in their inhabitation of the island, the boys establish a democratic society that thrives on order, necessity, and unity. Slowly, however, the peaceful society that they create shatters through a path of hatred, disrespect, murder, and the release of the true human soul.

The entire theme of “Lord of the Flies” is savagery over civilization. The entire books describes a group a young boys, between the ages of six and twelve, who descend fairly quickly into a savage state of mind. One would assume that the reason that the children resorted to the savage state so quickly was because of their shorter time in civilization, but the inherent being of savagery is present in all. Even in the civilized world, adults are still prone to the subconscious savagery in us all.