Loss Of Innocence In Lord Of The Flies Essay

In The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, proves that innocence is a trait man eventually loses over time, whether they like it or not; this is so because we are exposed to knowledge. Knowledge is something that we can never forget, it will always be engraved in our brain. Sadly, without guidance, mankind cannot decipher whether certain information is bad or good. So eventually man and even children could lose their innocence unintentionally. In an isolated island, Golding cleverly weaves in his book a mirroring of society today with a group of elementary and middle school boys without any adults to count on. Loss of innocence causes people to become evil and savage. So in this microcosm of society, motifs, symbols, and themes are scattered throughout the book that eases to point that Ralph who was all happy and easygoing, ends up a sobbing mess by the end of the story. Their purity is also, unknowingly stripped from them. The main character, Ralph, is chosen to be leader of everyone who crashed landed on the island, but fear of a

dangerous beast and conflicts between the group of boys makes the once “let’s all have until we get rescued” into a “we have to fight to survive, even if it means killing each other”. When Ralph has to deal with a force of blood thirsty savages after him, he finds out what the beast really is; it’s what’s left in man after all the innocence is drained from your heart.
In the Lord of the Flies, it’s clear that Golding is trying to make a point in his story, there are many ways to look at his book, but the loss of innocence is a dominating theme in this novel.

An excellent example of a boy who undergoes “loss of innocence” is Ralph. In the beginning of Lord of the Flies, Ralph “danced out into the hot air of the beach and then returned as a fighter-plane” (p.11). Everyone knows that little children are the only ones who act like airplanes, or any other automobiles for that matter. Throughout the story, Ralph undergoes exposure to corrupted life. Before, they reached the island, they were probably normal boys who lead normal lives. If they continued this lifestyle, they probably would have never lost their innocence at such a young age or at all, but knowledge is a necessity to live, without it we can’t do anything. Yes, knowledge is a crucial element in life, but as always, there is always

evil.
In this book, Golding has expertly found a way to literally smash a religious allegory in. Why is this important? It’s important because in the Garden of Eden, the religious allegory that is portrayed, it shows how man was innocent and knew nothing of the evil there was in their perfect world, but then ate the forbidden fruit and gained knowledge of shame and evil It’s the same in the island, it was an oasis that was beautiful and peaceful, but then Ralph and the boys crash landed on the island and destroyed its beauty with the knowledge.