Innocence In Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

William Golding’s most famous novel, Lord of the Flies, opens with a group of schoolboys stranded on an island, excited to be without adult supervision. By the end, the ones left are closer to savages than children, their innocence ruined. Golding wrote the novel after his experience in the Navy during World War II. The story takes place at the end of the war, causing the plane to crash and a group of young boys to be stranded. The novel is about the boys’ fight to survive and their loss of innocence. At the same time, grown men are out fighting the war, doing the same, and worse, to people as the boys did to each other. It questions whether innocence is ruined from surroundings or individuals themselves: “Golding sets a group of children, who should supposedly be

He leads them in hunts and had them chant, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (Golding 152). At the time the boys are doing the dance and chant, Simon is running towards the group. He is attacked and killed by the others at Jack’s command. Simon’s death is not only an important turning point but also a symbol for the complete loss of innocence: “...for it is the first time that the boys have deliberately killed one of their own” (Lord of the Flies Novels for Students). The main reason for Simon’s death, besides Jack’s instruction, is the boys’ common belief of “the beast”. Even though Simon had once pointed out “the beast” might only be their imaginations by saying, “...maybe it’s only us” (Golding 89), Jack convinces them otherwise. He tells them “the beast” must to be killed. By now, the boys have completely lost their morals, and they believe Jack when he says Simon was “the beast”. Character development clearly shows the theme of loss of innocence. Jack was like any other boy. After being left without adults, or any civilization, he becomes morally corrupt and leads other boys down the same