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Mask Of Ignorance In Lord Of The Flies

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In Lord of the Flies, Golding utilizes the characters of adolescent boys to portray the fact mankind may be conditioned by society to behave a certain way, but no matter how much man is trained by society, society can never rid the evil that lurks within man; they can simply mask it. When the boys are put in a situation where they must force society’s cemented mask off, the question of human nature begins to arise as well as a desperation to the answer to the struggle between morals and natural instinct. “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”(79). What Piggy was not aware about is that there is no difference between these terms. People may acknowledge the lies that society gives humanity to live by, but what people fail to acknowledge …show more content…

As mentioned earlier, innocence is a mask of ignorance and being unaware of evil within. The only boys able to remove this mask were Simon and Ralph, therefore, they lost their innocence, not Jack and his followers. Simon was the first to remove the mask. As the boys were discussing a possible beast that may inhabit the island, Simon offered his opinion as well “‘Maybe,’ he said hesitantly, “‘maybe there is a beast’”... ‘What’s the dirtiest thing there is?’”(77). Simon was trying to explain to the boys the concept that evil is buried within people’s hearts and will always find a way to arise;the boys being the age they were, could not understand. Furthermore, Simon acknowledges the other side of, not only him, but humanity in this point of the plot. Simon’s loss of innocence is further illustrated when he is the only one to face the devil within himself. After a conversion with the Lord of the Flies, he understands he will never be able to eradicate the darkness within him, and it is then he knows he will not leave the island the same way he arrived. “‘This is ridiculous. You know perfectly well you’ll only meet me down there- so don’t try to escape!...or else,’ said the Lord of the Flies, ‘we shall do you?’” (128). Ralph begins to lose his

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