Loss Of Innocence Research Paper

In the article, “In a war, children without a childhood,” by Los Angeles Times, the central idea was that children lose their innocence because they lost their childhood. For example, many children lost their childhood because they’ve watched their parents become victims of murder. According to the article, “Children have seen their parents killed and watched as boys and girls just like them were hurt.” Well, when children see their parents get killed, they tend to grow up with brutal, aggressive tendencies, which causes them to lose their innocence. In addition to being orphaned, children will grow up making mature, adult decisions, also causing them to lose their youth. In conclusion, when children lose their childhood, they lose their

"All things truly wicked start from an innocence,” states Ernest Hemingway on his view of innocence. Innocence, what every youth possesses, is more accurately described as a state of unknowing but not ignorance- which connotation suggests a blissfully positive view of the world. Most youth are protected from the harsh realities of the adult world. Therefore they are able to maintain their state of innocence. While innocence normally wanes over time, sometimes innocence can be abruptly taken away. Some of the characters in Truman Capotes In Cold Blood lost their innocence due to the traumatic events they experienced in childhood and adulthood while some had none to begin with.

Holding onto Innocence is like trying to hold on to someone that is on the verge of passing, you can try your best and sometimes they do live but a lot of the time you can’t and losing the person changes you. Because you are hit with things that break your innocence and just growing up slowly makes you lose your innocence it makes it very hard to hold on to. For example “ Her hardest hue to hold” is trying to show that “gold “or innocence is the hardest characteristic to keep. In the outsiders Ponyboy tries his best to keep his innocence even if he doesn't show. When Johnny is on his deathbed he weakly says to ponyboy “Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold…” and passed away. This left Ponyboy and would leave many others determined to keep his innocence and try not to get in trouble. Also when Johnny picked up a broken bottle to scare Soc’s away he picked it up and threw it away showing he still was still a kind hearted kid under all of the inadequate things he did. You are given innocence as a child, only some can hold on to

Characters lose their innocence throughout American literature. What exactly does “losing their innocence” mean? Losing one’s innocence can be seen as a character maturing. A character may lose his/her innocence in ways including the viewing of a traumatic event, especially one that will scar his/her life forever. Losing one’s innocence can also be caused by losing one’s trust in someone whom he/she once trusted, catching a glimpse into the “real world”, or performing an act of immorality. The recurring theme of loss of innocence, as seen throughout American literature and reality, can affect a person and the people around him/her both negatively and positively. As a result, the audience can see the character mature through losing hope of dreams, becoming an outcast of society, gaining a new perspective of ideas, or gaining confidence. Negative and positive effects falling onto characters as a result of a loss of innocence can be found in works such as The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, and The Hunger Games; this theme can also be seen in real life through the effects of children exposed to violent video games.

The loss of innocence in life is an inevitable process. Losing one’s innocence comes merely by growing up. The philosophy of the loss of one’s innocence is a definite theme in the book Bless Me, Ultima. This theme is displayed throughout the entire story and plot of the novel. There is loss of innocence all around the main character, Tony, with his brothers and the people he meets. Tony also loses a great deal of his own innocence to the harsh realities of the world which marks his transition from a boy to a man.

The characters in To Kill A Mockingbird and the people in our society don’t understand our world until they’ve experienced a loss of innocence. Growing up is a hard part of life. When people are younger, they’re naive and not aware of anything outside their home. When experiencing loss of innocence, people are more aware of right and wrong. People are beginning the rules and concepts of life. Experiencing a life lesson can lead to a loss of innocence. People are finally maturing and understanding situations from others perspectives.

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.

Innocence is perceived through children, however, we all are forced to grow up at some point in our lives. As kids begin to age, they start to see the truth behind everything they were shadowed by during their adolescence, just like the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The theme of the mockingbird is innocence although, the children have to mature and acknowledge that they are blinded from the adult world. Throughout the story, they realize and piece together all that is occurring around them in the setting of the book, racism and that it should not be socially acceptable to discriminate other human beings for being a different race.

When I think of what “innocence” means, I think of someone or something not knowing any better, and in Shakespeare’s play The Tempest and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein we see that being portrayed. There are characters in both that just don’t know right from wrong, whether it is because of being sheltered or being new to living life, they both shows signs of innocence throughout their roles. Starting with Miranda from the play The Tempest, Miranda is sheltered from the world by her father, Prospero, and knows only what her father has taught her while being trapped on an island. She doesn’t have any contact with anyone other than her father and one of his slaves, Caliban. Throughout the play Miranda is very naïve and represents youth throughout the play, and both of those characteristics are good examples of someone who portrays a sign of “innocence”.

What is innocence? Well, that's a question that often entails an arbitrary answer but the dictionary tells us that innocence is something along the lines of “pure, lack of corruption”. In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird Jem and Scout Finch play as symbols of innocence. At the start of the novel Jem and Scout, the 10 and 6 year old son and daughter of defense attorney Atticus Finch, are truly as pure as can be. As the novel progresses they have a fall from innocence after being exposed to true evil. We see the effect of this fall from innocence towards the end of the book when Jem and Scout face what was their worst fear, the sheltered Boo (Arthur) Radley, and go completely unaffected.

Innocence is quite a recurring theme in this book, The Catcher in The Rye by J.D Salinger. The main character Holden Caulfield has been through his fair share of trauma, such as when his younger brother died. Later in the story it is explained that he misses his brother dearly and that is what makes him want to preserve his own innocence as well as that of all other children. In fact Holden will question everything like when he asked his cab driver, “Where do all the ducksgeese go when the winter comes. ”(Salinger)

Innocence is a very strong theme in the novel, but even more than innocence itself, the loss of innocence is what drives the story along and is even shown in the title. Innocence doesn’t only appear in novels, we experience it as a society and individually in our everyday life through learning, acceptance, and

Childhood innocence is something that every one only has once in their lifetime. In many cultures children are depicted as

Innocence is a word that suggests the thought of children, and infants. Their minds are so open to possibilities, as they are developing and learning about new aspects of life. This comes with some inherent downfalls, such as naivety, or learning ideas or issues that are perhaps not suitable for them. For example, learning swear words or befriending strangers when their parents are not around. When someone experiences traumatic events, a common coping mechanism is to revert to their utmost innocent state. Yet it can be troubling, not just for yourself, but for those around you, to go back to a more childlike state of mind. The writings of Sylvia Plath—in her poem titled “Daddy”—and J.D. Salinger—in his short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”—express the idea of finding, communicating, and the consequences of innocence quite perfectly.

One might say that innocence is also the result of and held within the imagination. Considering that innocence can be learned, does that mean it can be regained? A young child is oblivious to the corruption of the world. An older child is aware of it, but still maintains their innocence by keeping themselves protected from potential harm. As an adult, it is proven difficult to keep innocence. Adults need to take responsibility and initiative. Doing so heightens the probability that they are more greatly affected by the demoralization of the world. As Tim Lott shares his experience on this pondering question he expresses an almost buoyant outlook on the answer.