The Loss Of Innocence In Lord Of The Flies

Improved Essays
“The Loss of Innocence in Lord of the Flies” Imagine being thrown onto an island with nothing but your mind, strength, and peers. How would one think of surviving, let alone escaping if one cannot grow or show growth in mind or body. This type of growth is not something one gains with no consequences, it is something one gains from losing an important quality. This quality is in every child, but in no adult. One can have, but it is lost forever once this “growth” happens. In “Lord of the Flies” one character specifically goes through this type of “growth,” this character is Ralph and the quality that he lost is his innocence. He lost this innocence due to experiencing the terror and brutality man can do to one another in a survival situation. …show more content…
There are four direct cases of him trying and failing to protect others. The first failure was the death of the mulberry birthmark child. The child was assumed to be burned to death by Ralph’s unorganized attempt at making a signal fire, which in turn lit the surrounding trees on fire. “‘Where is he now?,’ Ralph muttered the reply as if in shame.”(47) Ralph shows his regret in haphazardly setting the island on fire and losing the life of a young boy. Second, Ralph failed to stop the uprising of Jack’s vicious tribe and losing most of his followers based on an imaginary monster. “For a while they sat in depressed silence.”(128) The scene of Ralph showing depression, based on Jack’s actions, reveals that Ralph did not want to upset or lose Jack. This clearly shows a loss of innocence in Ralph as he could not maintain peace in his tribe. Third, Ralph took part in the murder of Simon, which was due to the chaotic singing and dancing of Jack’s tribe. The ritual Jack’s tribe preformed caused the boys to go into a frenzy and unleashed their innate human savagery. After Ralph regained his senses, he knew he murdered Simon and felt intense remorse. “That was murder.”(156) Ralph said this because he knew what he did was wrong and there was no coming back from killing someone. He lost an immense amount of innocence due to the murder of Simon. Finally, when trying to run from Jack’s tribe Ralph and Piggy had a boulder hurled at …show more content…
Ralph started out as a strong and looked up to leader, but it all went downhill due to the stresses of making and maintaining a government, failing to protect others, and trying to escape from a fire-torn, savage populated island by himself. The growth Ralph experiences will never leave him and his innocence will never come back. He now has an intense, but true view that people are capable of the brutality and savagery he, himself experienced on that island. Him being a child and having the experiences he had, gave him the mentality of an adult. A child is born with innocence and naivety, because they do not know how dangerous the world is, and with time that innocence and nativity should leave that child and when that happens that child is now an adult with a better understanding of the world and the people who live in

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Ralph has been the primary representation of the civilization and order within the novel and with this, he was able to repress the savagery temptations, but soon enough, he begins to succumb to this nature. This was first seen when he wounded the pig and shouted, “I hit him all right. The spear stuck in. I wounded him” (Golding 113)! Although he was able to repress them for a while, he is no different from the other boys on the island since they are still all adolescents and are not immune to the evil that resides within them.…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Most readers wouldn’t have thought that Ralph would be guilty of savagery as well, but everyone has the ability to do such things. If you are in a situation where there are no rules, you would do the same. As you get farther into the book, the children start to change as people. They spend long amounts of time without adults or rules to restrict them.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In William Golding’s, “Lord of the Flies,” a group of young boy’s crash land and become stranded on an island. Being left with nothing but their own devices, they decide a leader must be chosen. Ralph and Jack are the two oldest characters in the book meaning that they are the best candidates for the boys to vote between. Seeing how Jack was the only person on the island to have formerly had any type of involvement as a leader, the boys could have easily voted Jack over Ralph as leader. So why did they not vote Jack and what makes Ralph the better leader?…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    True leadership is represented by standing up for the greater good of a group without selfishness and ignorance towards others. The story The Lord of The Flies by William Golding demonstrates a constant struggle for power and leadership between Jack, Piggy, and Ralph. The malicious actions that result draw out specific aspects of leadership from each boy. Apart from Jack and his aggressive attitude toward others or Piggy with the lack of respect he receives from the others, Ralph 's rational thinking is the trait, that as a leader, trumps the others and clearly shows how his endless efforts for the greater good of the boys make him the distinct leader.…

    • 1659 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ralph shows a very positive and understanding human nature between him and the other survivors. As he believes in hearing out everyone's side to the story. Ralph shows a very positive survival skill that brings the group to order and…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A hero is someone who is admired for courage and outstanding achievements. In William Golding’s novel, Lord Of the Flies, Ralph is portrayed as a demanding hero, where as in Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is more of an epic hero because he is consistently courageous with what he does. Odysseus is courageous. Courage is when someone meets danger without fear. In The Odyssey, Odysseus shows courageous traits when he had two ways to Ithaca.…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, innocence is a characteristic of all the children when first getting to the island. Even though the boys want to keep their innocence, they follow Golding’s idea that every child has evil inside them and begin to take their savage form. For the ones that can not accept the fact that the are turning into a savage see a bitter end to their lives. Golding uses metaphors of the beast and the scar to show how once a child loses her innocence there is no returning to their previous, innocent form.…

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself. ”(Albert Camus). In today modern world; we had reach so many advancement from medical to mass communication. These major discoveries had lead many to believe that we are far from being savages that we once were, right? In the novel “The Lord of the Flies” William Golding (the author of the book) explores the core-essences of man.…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Ralph growingly feels more upset as each boy slowly turns on him. Ralph begins to feel lonely on the island and craves the acceptance from the boys as a peer, and a chief. Peer pressure and the desire for acceptance roots a sadness in both characters throughout their…

    • 1751 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Ralph testified on behalf of the prosecution, but his testimony was a complete lie. He was thought it would be a good way to gain some favor with the local police, a group he was not the most popular with. “He’d been promised that he wouldn’t get the death penalty and would get favorable treatment in exchange for his testimony…” (Stevenson, 52), but after he had second thoughts about blatantly lying in court and decided to admit to his perjury, the death penalty was reinstituted. This made Ralph really nervous and he had thoughts about sticking to his lie until he finally came around after sharing his story with other people on death row.…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ralph is still is doubting that he is one of many to blame for such an atrocity; he is finally coming to the realization that he needs to grow up and act responsibly . The first blunder for the group that corrupts them is the flame that ignited the forest into a sea of flames, however Simon picking the fruit off of the tree for the little ones tells us that not all hope is…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Theme Of Innocence In Lord Of The Flies

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited

    It illustrates the increasing loss of innocence by manifesting only after an act of true evil was committed- the “raping” of the sow. When Simon first discovers it, it “speaks” to him by way of a hallucination caused by his epilepsy, and introduces itself as the "Beastie" (Elliott, Joyce, Shorvon, “Delusions”). This is ironic as the Lord of the Flies is composed of a truly innocent creature- the murdered sow. That the boys are determined to kill it suggests that they are intent on destroying innocence as opposed to evil, which is what they believe they are hunting. Simon still retains his innocence due to his isolated behavior and epilepsy.…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Every civilization in history had a leader. Some were great and powerful while others were violent and controversial. Out of the many characters in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, Ralph stands out as the most effective leader. He always has the group’s greatest interests at heart and is willing to work and make sacrifices along side his followers for the benefit of the community.…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With Ralph’s understanding of the need for order and rules, he improves the society in which the boys are living in. Jack’s society was barbaric and savage and met none of these needs, Also, Jack treated the boys very badly and as inferiors. Ralph, on the other hand was able to treat the boys all equally and with respect. Ralph’s priority to get off the island demonstrates his wisdom and ability to make good decisions.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Psychological Analysis of Lord of the Flies In Lord of the Flies, young boys ranging from six to twelve are stranded on a desert island after their plane has crashed. They have no connection or communication with society and the outside world, therefore they have no adults regulating their actions and behaviors. Without adults controlling them, they are able to make their own rules to abide by. But as the novel progresses, some of the boys begin to disregard the rules and societal rules that they were once familiar with.…

    • 1243 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays