Lord of the Flies Loss of Innocence Essay Sample

In Lord of the Flies, author William Golding utilizes his novel to demonstrate the loss of innocence by showing certain faults and weaknesses of society and humankind illustrated by the boys on the island.

One example of the boys showing their loss of innocence was the transition of chapter 3 through chapter 12. “They’re off bathing, eating, or playing” (Golding, 50). It’s shown at the beginning of the book that the littluns are in the lagoon swimming and playing carefree. “Kill the pig, slit her throat, spill her blood” (Golding, 69). From here, it escalates very quickly. In this moment where they are hunting the pig is where Golding allows the readers to start seeing how the boys start to shift into their savagery. Finally, they get to chapter 12 where the boys have finally been depleted of their chastity. “They were savages it was true” (Golding, 185). During the timing of this quote the boys have hunted, killed animals, even taken the lives of their own. Ralph running from Jack and his new tribe during this time relates to him running away from the society and the boys that are chasing Ralph display the fault of humankind.

“He found himself understanding the wearisomeness of this life, where every path was an improvisation and a considerable part of one’s waking life was spent watching one’s feet” (Golding, 76). In this quote, Ralph is reflecting on when they first arrived on the island. This relates to the loss of innocence because it lets the readers see from the main character’s point of view of how far the boys have come, that now Ralph has to watch his back and keep the lookout for people that’ll betray him. Those same people that were supposed to survive with him. Have his back.

The problem with humankind and society are the people. Innocence is lost when betrayal and hate are in the picture. That’s the outcome of when humans are placed in a world of no civilization. The fault of the boys in William Golding’s novel is that they failed to remember who they were in society and that came to be their greatest weakness and their downfall.