Loss Of Innocence In Lord Of The Flies, By William Golding

The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is an allegory that connects the boys’ behavior in the novel to the basic behavior of human nature. In the novel, the boys fear a wild beast that has the potential to kill them off. However, Simon, a quiet boy, finds that the beast is not an animal that everyone should fear, but is a part of each boy himself.

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

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a classic novel and portrays just how the society surrounding us can corrupt our once pure nature No one is born a killer, no one is born with an intense compulsion to kill, the island that the boys are stranded on has a very unusual, corrupting society; A society that erodes the boys innocence through the power struggle between Jack and Ralph, readers see the transfer from innocent to savagely through the hunting and Piggy’s death.

In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, there is a theme relating to loss of innocence. To begin, when Jack kills the first pig in Chapter 4, it is showing how his innocence is beginning to diminish. This is shown very clearly when it states, “Jack began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling” (Golding, 1954, p. 91). Killing the first pig shows how the boys are starting to lose the innocence that they used to have. When they first came to the island, Jack could not kill a pig, but as his innocence begins to fade, he is able to kill the pig. In addition to Jack killing the first pig in Chapter 4, another significant part of the novel is when he kills the pig in Chapter 8. This is described in the novel when it says,

Lord of the Flies written by William Golding is about British school boys who get trapped on an island. Who then try to create a society to temporarily suit their needs till they get rescued. There are four main characters in the book Ralph, Jack, Piggy. The character that I chose to compare the characterization that the author puts to enhance the theme loss of innocence is Simon. Innocence is considered as a nice, non-evil, clean minded person. Innocence is lost once they are not considered good people or don’t think of good things. Golding uses the characterization of Simon to enhance the theme of the loss of innocence.

To be innocent is to maintain purity and lack corruption. The Lord of the Flies is a novel written by Nobel Prize winning author William Golding in 1954. The novel is about British schoolboys getting stuck on an island that is uninhabited. The story is about their struggle to survive while facing obstacles that force them into savagery and a loss of innocence. This loss of innocence sets the plot and outlines an intriguing story. Throughout the novel, William Golding makes it apparent that a loss of innocence occurs due to violence, lack of leadership, and the need to kill.

As people grow older they become wiser and realize that things aren’t what they appear to be, resulting in a loss of innocence. For most people at least, this lost of innocence happens when we begin to grow older but for others, it can happen early. For example, if a young child is exposed to more mature events, then perhaps they could also lose their innocence. In the book The Lord of the Flies many characters are faced with these mature events when having to solve survival problems that lead their innocence being lost, which results in them needing to grow quicker than usual. Many characters in the book such as Jack, the littluns (little kids of the group), and Roger are faced with problems while on the island that result in them needing to become more savage and lose this innocent part of them.

From the youngest “little’un” to the leaders of the camp, no boy would leave the island without the sting of innocent blood on their hands. The story quickly progresses in a chaotic order of events at an almost unbelievable level of savagery until the moment Ralph is discovered by a Naval officer. At their rescue, a numbing reality hits every boy on the island, causing them to drop every care they had before, and cry uncontrollably at the events that they had suppressed in order to survive.“…Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart…” (Golding,

William Golding’s morality tale, Lord of the Flies, illustrates the true ideas about human nature by telling the tale of preteenage British boys who get stranded on an isolated island and must fight to survive. The novel highlights the importance of law and order in a functioning society and the moral that all humans are essentially evil.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, all the boys on the island interpret the beast and what it represents to them in very different ways. This novel was written in 1954 by William Goulding. It takes place during World War II and is a commentary on the savagery that secretly lies within everyone. This essay will explore this savagery which manifests through this beast, and what this beats means to the

“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages (79)?” This quote perfectly sums up the plot of Lord of the Flies, an unfolding tale about a group of young British boys who find themselves stuck on a neglected island after their plane is shot downward during a world war. The schoolboys initially praise their independence from their parents constant overruling; however, when realization hits them square in the face, they are left with the unending fear that they might never return to reality. The challenge to implement rules, organize as a group, and find means for survival contribute to the boys’ unsettling emotions. As time unfolds, the boys encounter problems acquiring food and shelter, beasts, and unnerving sounds. The central conflicts in

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an allegory for the evil embedded inside the human heart, buried and hidden by years of social conditioning. Stranded on an uncharted island, a group of young boys struggle for survival, their fate determined by Golding’s traumatizing years spent in the Royal Navy. Some authors, such as Jean-Jacque Rousseau, question Golding’s theme of organic maleficence, arguing the purity of mankind. Lord of the Flies silences this opposition through the the actions of these children: Roger throwing rocks at Henry with desire to hurt, the torturing of a nursing sow, disregarding the future of her piglets and Jack’s refusal to reason with Ralph resulting in Piggy’s death.

Lord of the flies is anything but an easy book to digest. It comes upon the reader like a heavy meal on a suffocating summer's day. The main idea is fairly simple actually: a group of children stranded on an isolated island are trying to reenact the norms of the society they used to live in before their arrival on the island. Gradually, things descend more violently with the children looking to kill the beast that lives in the heart of the jungle. What they are unable to realize though is that the only beast on the island is the one that lurks within their own selves. Overall, William Golding's novel is a sad allegory on the human nature which tends to return to primitivism when man is faced with conditions outside the norms of society: isolation, and the lack of either a spatial or temporal landmark. Golding's image of good and evil in the book is a bitter medicine to swallow; nevertheless, we must do so in order to understand his intentions.

Lord of the Flies written by William Golding is about a group of British boys that get stranded on a uninhabited island where they will be challenged to govern themselves. All of the boys are on a plane which is trying to leave britain during the outbreak of World War 3. The boys are all from 13-6 years old and will discover there true self from this hard challenge of starting your our civilization. Throughout the story the boys will be looking for the so called beast of the island. But what they don't understand is that the only beast on the island is themselves.

“The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical fears, nor intellectual achievement but moral acts; to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say ‘I was wrong.” -Sydney J. Harris. This quote says that some of the hardest things in life aren't our fears, and aren't or achievements that we strive to attain, as much as we do struggle with those things. Sydney J. Harris is saying that the hardest acts are “returning love for hate,” meaning still loving someone and caring for them even when we have despair and hate for them. She also says to admit that you’re wrong, another of the hardest tasks because humans have a hard time admitting their failures, and wrong doings in life. The book, “Lord of the Flies,”by William Golding proves that this quote is relevant with Ralph, and Jack especially, but really with all of the boys on the Island. This proves that the literary elements of characterization and conflict are major keys to unlocking the book.