A grasp on Innocences
Rachel A. Harris

Innocence, the very sound of the word, sends ripples of relief and wishful thinking through the
human mind. In the novel, Lord of the Flies , Sir William Golding suggests, that without civilization
and order, the need and aspect of innocence disappears. This belief or idea has been beautifully
described and shown in Goldings modern classic. What better way to portray themes than a book. The
following essay is going to cover some of the key events in the novel, that convey the idea of the given
thesis statement.
Different questions arise, for different reasons, and Lord of the Flies , is a very odd and unique,
example of this thought. The deaths of Simon and Piggy are both forms of murder, yet the events
that came after their untimely deaths, were caused by the questions thst went unanswered or just
given the simplest answer. " Ralph's voice, low and stricken, stopped Piggy's gestures. He bent down
down and waited. Ralph, cradling the conch, rocked himself to and fro.' Don't you understand, Piggy?
The things we did-'." Writers, do not just put words together, they put feelings together, and that is
exactly what Golding has been able to do. Taking the sweet innocence of the littluns and protecting
it from the truth of what happened to Simon, only prolonged what was going to come. By the time
Lord of the Flies, progressed to the point of Piggy's inhumane murder, innocence was all put a tiny
thread, hanging in the balance. " Piggy's arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig's after it has been
killed." What Roger did to Piggy was no where near innocent, he knew exactly what he wanted to
happen, would. Littluns where the most innocent of all the boys, but by being witnesses to Piggy's
murder that innocence was now demolished, and the darknes of mans heart, took its hold on all of
them.
"Darkness of man's heart", a key use of wording in Lord of the Flies, people believe that an exellant
representation of this, is when we see the drastic change in Roger. Just like every other boy on the
island, Roger started out scared, nervous, and seeking to take orders from the person that was seen
as their superior. Roger's first steps to his change were shown when he threw stones at Henry, but
left an area that he would not cross, so he never hit Henry, he was tempting fate. " Roger stooped,
picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry- threw it to miss." In the adult world if Roger did
this and was caught, he would have been severly punished by the adults, but on the island they no
longer existed. Sadly though, we lose the fun loving child Roger, and instead we gain a very corrupt,
rebelious young man, who uses abuse, bith physical and mental, to control his victims. If the book had
made it so they had never left the island many suspect that Roger would have sought for power, and
that history would repeat itself. Man's heart really is a source of great evil, but with the help of
order that civilization brings, we are able to supress that those inner most spark of evil in us all,
though when one is removed from society, civilization, and the prospect of order, so does our ability
to supress that evil. " Roger advanced upon them as one wielding a nameless authority." Thanks to the
change in Roger we are able to visualize the lust and greed that power brings out in people.
A stick with a point at each end, what could this possibly mean to the average person, the answer,
nothing, but to Ralph it was a sign of his fate, and to Roger and Jack, it was a sign of their triumph,
over there only competition. "Roger sharpened a stick at both ends. Ralph tried to attach a meaning to
this but could bot." Why the boys would go wild and choose to eliminate Ralph, is not by their own
choosing, but by Jacks fear that Ralph will regain all his order and civilization, thus destroying Jacks
power. The fact that they choose to hunt Ralph just like one of the island pigs, is a way that Golding
conveys that the boys are no longer innocent, the order that was their peace, and the civilized
manner that Ralph wanted, was the only way to keep everyone together, they were stronger and
smarter when they worked as one. If they had been civilized no one would have died, they would have
thought things through, unlike deciding to burn the island in order to get Ralph, which is ironic
because had they not been rescued, they had now destroy their entire food supply, if they had kept
order around, they would not be so seperate and apart. All that they did only went to further the
event, of losing their pure innocence.
Civilazation and order, are two very important ingredients, in a dish we call innocence, without
them their is no dish. Golding chose to write in a way that made his readers use their minds, a gift
from god that we sometimes take for grantided. By doing this every person, looked at every
character, object, and setting differently, no one ever thinks on the same wave length, we are nothing
like that and it helps people to get different aspects of the novel that pertain to them. Childhood the
most innocent time of ant one persons life. something that needs protection, and needs to be
cherished, by all in the past, present, and future. No one ever asks for their innocence to be taken
away, and when the darkness that dwells within man's heart takes it, it can never be returned or
replaced.