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In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, we find a group of British boys stranded on a tropical island while the rest of the world is at war. Their plane has been shot down and they find themselves without adults to tell them how to act. As they struggle to survive, they encounter conflicts that mirror the decayed society from which they have come. In The Lord of the Flies, the theme is innocence and the loss of it. Another way to describe the fear of the unknown could be man ultimately reverting to an evil and primitive nature.
The cycle of mans rise to power and his inevitable fall from grace is an important point that book proves repeatedly. Lord of the Flies symbolizes fall in different manners, which are ranging from the illustration of the mentality of actual primitive man to the reflections of a corrupt seaman in purgatory. Boys are wearing masks, which become a producer of evil circumstances, give a sense of anonymity, and represent the defiance of social structure. The very purpose of a mask is for hiding. Boys use the masks to hide their lust for blood, killing, and death from their consciences. Throughout the entire story, hunting, killing, and shedding of blood was done while hidden by masks.
In the novel, Simon is innocent and peaceful young man, who tries to show other boys that on the island there is no monster except the fears boys have. Simon tries to state the truth that there is a beast, but it's only us (Golding 11). When he makes this revelation, he does not know really what to make of it. Later in the story, the savage hunters are chasing a pig. Once they kill the pig, they put its head on a stick and Simon experiences an epiphany in which he understands more about the beast.
After Simon discovers what the boys think the beast is, he rushes to the campfire to tell the boys of his discovery. As Simon comes to the campfire he is hit in the side with a spear, his prophecy rejected and the word he wished to spread ignored. Simon falls to the ground dead and is described as beautiful and pure. Simon faced his loss of innocence abruptly when he was stabbed repeatedly. His loss of innocence is a big realization for some of the other boys and the loss of their innocence.
Boys lose their innocence, because they have to overcome the situation in which they are not protected, which means that they are growing up. In The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger portrays the main character Holden Caulfield as a protector of innocence, which is shown through his protection of children, giving up his own innocence to help others, and his disgust of the graffiti on the walls. Holden is a very strong-minded individual and is very open about the way he feels about things. Although it does not seem that he is the protector of innocence at first, as the story progresses he begins to shed more of his own innocence to affect those around him.
There is a time in a persons existence when they loose their innocence. No longer, are people sheltered from the harsh outside world, they are a part of it. People become corrupt when they grow up. This process overwhelms all and is only stopped by death. These are the thoughts of Holden Cauffield right before he has a mental breakdown. Holden adores innocence, and believes that only the young are subject to it.
In Holden's mind, there are three people in particular he knows are the epitome of innocence. These people are Phoebe, Holden's younger sister, Jane, Holden's friend from summer, and Allie, Holden's younger brother that has passed away. Throughout the story, Holden often comments on something he believes is not good to him. Whenever someone does something that he just does not plain like he calls it phony. This is a show of his protection of innocence evidently because this is one example of something that he has always done.
It has not occurred because of his want to become a catcher. Holden simply feels the outside world is phony and does not want his sister corrupted by them. Holden would like to keep children as innocent as he can, he believes that he has already lost his innocence and eventually gives up his own to help the other children. Holden would go through his time in New York not focusing on anything specific. He just went there to have fun and pass the time. After his catching dream, he goes through various phases where he begins to change, and his innocence begins to be stripped so that he is more able to assist those he must catch.
He seems to believe that he does not have any innocence during his journey, but the thing is he is still much like a child he is in some small ways. This really interests him because that is what he wanted to be like. Holden does not realize that he still has some of his innocence until he has already begun to shed his innocence. Finally, Holden shows his disgust for the world that has lost its innocence. Holden has a hate for the World that he would associate to graffiti phrases.
He assumes that his whole adult world would have this word as part of their society and that they all think that this sort of thing is right. Innocence in both novels is corresponded only to children, who lose innocence when they grow up. Man grows more savage at heart as he evolves because of his cowardice and his quest for power. Both novels prove this by throwing together opposing forces, such as innocence and guilt into a situation that dowses them with power struggles and frightening situations. By comparing humankind in general to Biblical characters in similar scenarios, both Catcher and the Rye and Lord of the Flies provide images of the darker side of man. This darker side of mans nature inevitably wins over innocence and man is proven to be a pathetic race that refuses to accept responsibility for its shortcomings.
Both novels reveal that a person cannot remain innocent anymore when matures.
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Research essay sample on Lord Of The Flies Loss Of Innocence
