Who Is The Loss Of Innocence In Lord Of The Flies

LOTF Theme Essay What is some thing that most children have but adults do not? Lord of Flies was written by Sir William Golding and published in 1954. The story takes place during World War II. It is about a group of boys who are on a plane trying to escape war. They crash on a deserted island with no adults present. The boys are forced to figure out a way to survive on their own until they get rescued. The loss of innocence was a major theme present in Lord of the Flies. When the boys crash on the island, they are all alone. There are no parents or adults there to help them. They are forced to make grown-up decisions. Aren’t there any grownups? No. Then we’ll have to look after ourselves. (Golding 21).
They are responsible for themselves
The band of boys breaks apart into two. It starts off with Jack’s tribe killing Simon. Even though the murder was by accident, they still lost innocence. Their innocence completely vanishes when the group of hunters kills Piggy. “Then the sea breathed over the rock; and when it went, sucking back again, the body of Piggy was gone” (Golding 181). Piggy was killed on purpose. Everyone could see that it was he speaking. Everyone knew he was not the beast. He was killed just for the reason of being a nuisance to the hunters. As soon as Piggy fell and was swept into the water, the boys no longer had innocence left. The major theme in Lord of the Flies was the loss of innocence. When they are first on the island they are forced to make grown-up decisions that take away their childlike innocence. Later on they kill and take away life from pigs. This takes a chunk of the boys’ innocence. Finally, they begin killing people, which causes all of their innocence to disappear. In the beginning of the book, the boys act like children and are innocent. By the end of the book, the boys are savages and no longer have morals. Innocence can be easily taken away in hard