Loss of Innocence in Lord of the Flies
Loss of Innocence in Lord of the Flies
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 Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. Having their plane crash on an abandoned island with no civilization is something everyone would find traumatizing, especially boys from the ages of about 6-12. With no adults many of the boys do not know what to do. Being put in such a traumatizing situation they learn how to grow up very fast. This is where a lot of the boys innocence is lost simply because they do not know how to act as adults and because of this they act in a violent matter “You should have seen the blood!” (70). Here is an example of how the boys take violence as something exciting, something fun, when really there is nothing good or fun in violence. Very quickly the boys realize that they need to start some survival skills if they would like to stay alive. For some of the boys this is all new, some know nothing. Luckily others have been put in situations where they have needed survival skills so some can think creatively and use materialistic objects to survive. “His specs- use them as burning glasses!” (40) Here is an example for the boys using materials they have with them to survive on the island alone. They use Piggy’s glasses to create a fire by reflecting the sun off of them. With no adult or no authority to tell
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 Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. Having their plane crash on an abandoned island with no civilization is something everyone would find traumatizing, especially boys from the ages of about 6-12. With no adults many of the boys do not know what to do. Being put in such a traumatizing situation they learn how to grow up very fast. This is where a lot of the boys innocence is lost simply because they do not know how to act as adults and because of this they act in a violent matter “You should have seen the blood!” (70). Here is an example of how the boys take violence as something exciting, something fun, when really there is nothing good or fun in violence. Very quickly the boys realize that they need to start some survival skills if they would like to stay alive. For some of the boys this is all new, some know nothing. Luckily others have been put in situations where they have needed survival skills so some can think creatively and use materialistic objects to survive. “His specs- use them as burning glasses!” (40) Here is an example for the boys using materials they have with them to survive on the island alone. They use Piggy’s glasses to create a fire by reflecting the sun off of them. With no adult or no authority to tell
Cited: Page Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Toronto: Penguin, 2006. Print.