One wrong decision can change you in an instant, we live in a world where faulty judgement can affect the lives of others around you. It is important that everyday we try and evaluate decisions that benefit us, as well others. Innocence is something we are born with and can be defined as freedom from sin, moral wrong, lack of purity or corruption. However, things that we possess can also be lost and or taken away including our innocence. A novel that demonstrates a vast loss of innocence is in Lord of the Flies written by William Goulding. Innocence in the novel is present in many of the characters but slowly begins to deteriorate over time due to the lack of maturity and discipline from their lives, which is replaced with violence and savagery. …show more content…
Firstly, a tragic but overlooked event in the novel is the death of the boy with the mulberry birthmark. He is the first to talk of a Beastie on the island and shows much concern toward everyone’s safety, but is quickly overlooked due to his age and lack of proof. Piggy quickly concerns himself with the whereabouts of the boy when an innocent signal fire turns into a forest fire large enough to burn them all. He notices that they can’t find him saying, “[t]hat little’un- ‘…- ‘him with the mark on his face, I don’t see him. Where is he now?” (46). The first death of the novel impacts and reveals the destruction of the boys and how something so small can change and affect so quickly. They lose control of the fire causing it to burn half the jungle and the many resources they may need in the future. This demonstrates their lack of maturity and responsibility when it comes to adult like decisions. They made the fire to help with the process of being rescued but it instead turns into darkness and destruction in the blink of an eye. They have created another scar on the island to reflect on and see that their poor decisions have consequences and cost an innocent boy his life. To compare, another shocking and traumatic death in the novel is the loss of the Christ-like figure Simon. The death of Simon was cruel and horrific, the night was filled with …show more content…
To start, a key moment that enhances the loss of innocence in one character was the killing of the first pig by Jack and the hunters. They have been trying to kill a pig for a long time and is determined to achieve his goal. After, Jack and the hunters finally kill a pig, they begin to sing a horrific and dreadful tune in the honour of the kill, they chant, “[k]ill the pig, cut her throat, bash her in” (79). This chant proves that they have no regards to how the pig feels or that it is not just food anymore it is a way they can be not just boys but men. They do not feel guilt knowing that the pig they kill is a mother to piglets and that they no longer have a mother figure to protect them or love them just as the boys on the island do not have their mothers also. They view the pig as a game of some sort, and they know they want to do it again. This mark the beginning of Jacks loss of innocence. He is so determined to kill the pig to prove himself and show he is capable of murder, that he lost the proper poised English boy he used to be and turns into some raged feces smelling savage. He shows that he can kill a pig and that no one can ever stop him from doing it again. Also, in the novel Jack and the hunters encourage a littlun to pretend to be a pig so they can hunt for pleasure. Jack shows Ralph that they finally kill a pig, all the hunters and the rest