A Long Way Gone Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

“Our innocence had been replaced by fear and we had become monsters. There was nothing we could do about it.” This quote is from a novel titled A Long Way Gone telling the story of author Shmael Beahin as he grows up in Sierra Leone, while he finds himself caught in a civil war and being recruited as a child soldier. This connects to the idea that when children are found alone without protection of an authority figure to guide them in the right direction children may lose their innocence through lack of guidance. In his novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows the message of loss of innocence through Ralph, a child around the age of twelve who is stranded on an island with a bunch of boys from his school without any parietal supervision.

Ralph soon comes to a realization and can’t believe how powerful the evil that lives inside him is. It takes Ralph the loss of a true friend to realize who he has become “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy” (202). While Ralph is only twelve years old he has been through a ton in the last few weeks on the island alot for a child his age to go through. Golding uses the Naval Officer to rescue them because of how savagely the boys were acting that any adult most likely wouldn’t be able to contain them. Prior to the arrival of the officer the whole island is set on fire trying to smoke out Ralph. Ironically they are found through fire and rescue, something that Ralph’s prioritized since the beginning of their stay on the island. So when the Naval Officer asks “Who’s boss here?” Ralph responds loudly, “I am,” Golding has Ralph stand up and say he is chief because Ralph feels responsible for the loss of his classmates and his true friend Piggy. Ralph immediately breaks down and realizes what his inner beast has done to him and how things have worked out since the loss of society norms. Even Jack, the chief prior to the arrival of the Naval officer, remains silent because he realizes who he has become in the last few weeks on the island. Golding uses Ralph to show a valuable lesson that in order to be a succesful leader you must lead through rules and laws rather than fear and intimidation. This is because when there are no rules people tend to act out, as while they can't be