The Theme of Loss of Innocence in Lord of the Flies

Loss of innocence is a major theme in the book Lord Of the Flies by William Golding. Throughout the book, the boys go from civilized to savagery. Golding showed that without civilization, people will lose their innocence. In the beginning of the story, everyone was civilized. They voted Ralph as their leader and Ralph uses his authority to establish rules and enforce the moral and ethical codes of the English society. The conch symbolizes civilization and civilization keeps the boys from losing their innocence. After a few days, the boys did not want to work together and only wanted to have fun. The hunters even forget about the signal fire which is their only hope for civilization. Without civilization, the boys will have nothing to suppress their savagery.
They are always trying to feed their bloodlust by killing pigs. “Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong-we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat-!”-Jack (pg.91) This quote shows that Jack does not care about civilization and only wants to feed his bloodlust. “Use a littlun, said Jack, and everybody laughed.”-Jack(pg.115) This quote shows that Jack is having an idea of killing another human to feed his bloodlust. Even though Jack was laughing and acted like it was a joke, this shows that Jack is losing his innocence. “Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over mastering-”-(pg.114) This shows that even Ralph can lose his innocence when he feels the thrill of the hunt. “I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you.”-Jack (pg.127) This shows that Jack is splitting from civilization and he has nothing to stop his