Innocence In Lord Of The Flies

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

William Goldning’s Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel where literary techniques are utilized to convey the main ideas and themes of the novel. Two important central themes of the novel includes loss of civilization and innocense which tie into the concept of innate human evil. Loss of civilization is simply the transition from civilization to savagery; order to chaos. The concept of loss of innocense is a key concept to innate human evil because childhood innocense is disrupted as the group hunted animals and even their own. Through the use of literary techniques these ideas are seen in the passage where Simon confronts the “Lord of the Flies.”

The encounter with the Lord of the Flies supports Simon’s thoughts that the beast that the boys are hunting for is not an actual animal. The Lord of the Flies tries to persuade Simon to let go of his rational thoughts and be taken over by his primal instincts in order to have fun like the other boys. However, when Simon’s silence declares that he refuses to let go of logic and rationality, the Lord of the Flies realizes that Simon knows what the beast really is—the innermost part of the boys. Simon seems to make this connection that the Lord of the Flies is representational to the inner beast within the boys almost instantly. “His gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition”(Golding 139). Simon instantly The Lord of the Flies quickly makes the connection, too. “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding, 1 ). The Lord of the Flies is symbolic to all the evil that is in humans. As Simon realizes that he was right about the beast, he tries to go back to the other boys to warn them about his discovery, but the Lord of the Flies gets angry. “This is ridiculous. You know perfectly well you’ll only meet me down there—so don’t try to

The tragedies that unfold their civilization occur when they brutally beat Simon to death. After Jack and his hunters place the mother sow’s head in the forest as an offer to the beast they think exists, Simon encounters it and sees that it is covered in flies. Suddenly, the head started to talk to Simon as he feels like he is going to faint. It identifies itself to be the Lord of the Flies. It says, “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding 158). Simon then realizes that there is no physical beast, but a mental beast in each and every boy on the island. They all went from being joyful to a bunch of savages. Their

Within the novel innocence is progressively lost through the boys. The boys were placed in a situation where they had no other choice but to grow up, and grow up fast. These boys were put in a very traumatic situation and they had to learn on their own and from each other how to survive and almost create a thriving society all on their own. Slowly they learn that their needs to be a leader, but there are no adults to precede the role of authority. Therefore the children resume power and take the role of authority. All these things make the boys lose their innocence and become very violent. No one is completely innocent and everyone has the ability to turn violent, this is demonstrated in William

In the Lord of the Flies when the British school boys are sent away and their plane crashes they’re stranded on an island without an adult. This leads them to do horrible things to each other. These boys who were stranded, lost every sense of innocence they used to have and that island took it from them. Some terrible things that the boys did was murder each other and slaughter a defenseless mama pig.

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

When the boys first got on the island they were doing good. They picked a leader, they had rules and they were doing pretty. Unit Jack wanted to be leader and he left the tribe. So that made other kids leave and join his tribe which started a conflict. That ends with them losing their innocence and experiencing the darkness of the man ‘s heart.

"...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.

“A round patch of sunlight fell on his face and a brightness appeared in the depths of the water. He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger” (page 63). The boys on the island who follow Jack lose their innocence by murder and they all become savages. The quote shows how the paint that masked, encourages their fall. The Lord of the Flies really shows such a loss of innocence and some irony through all of their deaths and predicaments. In The Lord of the Flies Jack becomes a leader of bloodlust, the only absolute is Simon who is eventually murdered, and Ralph endures many trials.

Through all the fear and savagery, one boy saw through it all, and began to speculate as to what the beast really was, this boy being Simon. As the idea of a beast arises, the tribe becomes chaotic. Simon however, a persona of neither savagery nor civilisation, questions the existence of a beast. “Maybe there is a beast...maybe it’s only us” as quoted by Simon, shows that he believes that there is a beast, but not the same beast everyone else has in mind. Instead, Simon, unaffected by the fear, believes that the beast is within each boy. Later on in the book, Simon’s speculations are proven true, as in a vision, he sees the Lord of the Flies who confirms that "You knew, didn 't you? I 'm part of you? Close, close, close! I 'm the reason why it 's no go? Why things are what they are?"(Page 143). Simon also discovers the supposed beast is just a human being. Certain of this, Simon runs towards the tribe in order to tell them the truth. Fearful however, the boys see him as the beast and kill him and their only way of destroying the beast. From this, it is evident that the boys could not destroy the “beast” as they had killed the only boy who knew the truth.

During the younger boy’s explanation of the beast, Ralph “ push[es] both hands through his hair and looked at the little boy in mixed amusement and exasperation.”(page 35) Still retaining their civility, the older boys do not initially believe in the beast for they simply disregard it as a figment of their imagination. Nonetheless, the longer their stay on the island, the more the group accepts the existence of the beast. As they move further away from order whilst gravitating towards chaos, Simon points out “maybe it’s only us...” (page 96), insinuating that perhaps the beast is in fact the evil from within. Amid Simon’s confrontation with the Lord of the Flies, the sow teases him saying “You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you.” (page 158), confirming his previous proposal. Throughout the time of the feast held on the beach, Simon lays on a mat of creepers only to disclose the true identity of the beast; a dead parachutist. Upon his recent discovery, Simon makes his way down to the beast with the intention of revealing the reality. However, the boys have lost all sense of order, consequently mistaking him for the beast. As they hunt him down “ There [are] no words, and movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” (page 169). Simon’s horrendous death is a result of the others’ complete descent into savagery. The beast, originally presumed as fantasy, is now present in the minds of those on the island, symbolizing evilness as well as a lack of

In the words of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.” In other words, humans harbor an ever present looming evil nature within themselves. Evil is the force in nature that governs and gives rise to wickedness and sin, or the wicked or immoral part of someone. This concept of inner evil rising to the surface permeates William Golding’s dystopian novel Lord of the Flies, that evil exists in every human, proven through the characterization of the marooned boys. There is foreshadowing of the dangers of the boys’ inner immorality from one of the boys, Simon. As the novel progresses, evil starts asserts itself as the boys cast off their innocence and humanity, and turning against each other. Even the