Loss Of Innocence In Lord Of The Flies Analysis

As much as everyone would like to believe that all people are inherently good, the illusion of innocence that is often presumed throughout childhood makes the revelation of human nature especially hard to bear. Arthur Koestler said, “Nothing is more sad than the death of an illusion”, and this one is certainly a very hard reality to cope with. In the novel Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding tells the story of a group of British schoolboys who crash land on an uninhabited island in the midst of a world war, and how they regress from civilization to savagery. By conveying Ralph’s reactions to the deaths of Simon and Piggy, providing detailed, symbolic imagery of the cliffs and the lagoon, and showing Ralph’s despair at his new understanding

of human nature during his pursuit, Golding demonstrates that the illusions of innocence fade when one is faced with the human capacity for corruption.
The deaths of the characters Simon and Piggy show how easily true goodness is overpowered by corruption, and Ralph’s newfound understanding of human nature in the wake of these losses shows how presumptions about innocence can be similarly wiped away. When Simon tries to warn the boys that the “Beast” is not a creature on the island, but rather the evil that exists within themselves, the savage boys pounce on him and tear him apart. The next morning, Ralph brings up the situation:
Ralph, cradling the conch, rocked himself to and fro.
‘Don’t you understand Piggy? The things we did-’
‘He may still be-’
‘No.’ (157)
Piggy tries to deny (both to Ralph and to himself) that they were all involved in the murder of Simon, which shows that he is desperately grasping onto his belief in innocence. He refuses to believe that he and the rest of the boys are responsible for the death of another human being. Ralph is horrified just the same, but he acknowledges that they all took part in Simon’s death; he is slowly starting to realize the boys’ and his own potential for corruption. Later, as Ralph watches Piggy’s fateful fall at the hands of the sadistic Roger, “Ralph’s lips formed a word but no sound came. Suddenly Jack bounded out from the tribe and began screaming wildly: ‘See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I mean that! … Viciously, with full intention, he hurled his spear at Ralph” (181). When Ralph and Piggy try to take a diplomatic approach in convincing Jack’s tribe to give back Piggy’s spectacles, they hold onto the hope that the group of savages will listen to reason. Jack does not react to Piggy’s death with the slightest sign of shock or remorse, and in fact implies that he thinks Piggy somehow deserves his dreadful fate. Only when it is too late does Ralph understand how naive it was for him and Piggy to believe that Jack, who has become corrupt and cruel, would care about doing the right thing.
Golding further develops the concept of loss of the illusion of innocence through Ralph’s thoughts and actions at the end of the novel as he is being pursued by Jack’s tribe.

As Ralph is trying to hide from them overnight, he wonders, “Might it not be possible to walk boldly into the fort… pretend they were still boys, schoolboys who had said, ‘Sir, yes, sir’- and worn caps? Daylight might have answered yes; but darkness and the horrors of death said no” (186). No matter how hard Ralph tries, he cannot discard his new knowledge of Jack and his tribe’s potential for evil and corruption. For a long time Ralph seems to be in denial; like many others, he seems to want to stay true to his belief in the overall goodness of the human heart. Ralph’s expectations for human kindness are finally challenged to the point of irreversibility when Jack attacks him and tries to pursue him on a vicious manhunt. When Ralph collapses on the beach and a naval officer arrives, “With filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, [and] the darkness of man’s heart...” (202). One might think it strange that rather than rejoicing over rescue, Ralph and the rest of the boys cry out in grief. The young schoolboys come to understand the enormity of human greed and evil, and unfortunately it is a lesson that they will not be able to ignore or forget. They witness and play a role in their own loss of innocence, and the time they spend on the island teaches them what

corruption really looks like.
The author contrasts illusion with reality by describing the rocky cliffs of the island and the lagoon and using them as symbols for the two concepts.

The lagoon, often described as a “mirage”, represents the initial impression of paradise and peace while the rocky cliffs on the other side of the island represent a harsher reality: “A kind of glamour was spread over them and the scene and they were conscious of the glamour and made happy by it… On either side rocks, cliffs, treetops, and a steep slope…” (29). Golding uses these symbolic images to contrast the fantasy of goodness and the reality of corruption. At first, the boys spend happy, carefree days in the lagoon unclouded by corruption and evil. As the plot progresses, however, Jack starts gravitating toward the rocky side of the island, which symbolizes his gradual transition into corruption. In the end, when Ralph reflects on all the horrific experiences the boys have on the island, “For a moment he had a fleeting picture of the strange glamour that had once invested the beaches. But the island was scorched up like dead wood- Simon was dead- and Jack had…” (202). The disappearance of the “glamour” as the island is engulfed in flames is symbolic of corruption driving out (the illusions of) innocence. The fire can be considered a metaphor, for it shows how experiencing corruption incinerates former misconceptions about innocence. The boys arrive on the island with the expectation that the world is a safe place and that

most people are good, but as time passes they are forced to accept the reality of human corruption.
Despite the illusion that goodness is innate, true innocence is actually quite rare; when people witness corruption for the first time, it can be a hard truth to bear. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding presents the reactions to the deaths of Simon and Piggy, shows Ralph’s thoughts during his pursuit, and distinguishes the symbolism of the lagoon from that of the cliffs to show that expectations about human virtue can be shattered after people realize the human capacity for evil deeds. Humans hold a lot of power, and whether they use it for good or evil, for love or destruction, is up to them to decide. One can only hope that they make the right choices.