Innocence In Lord Of The Flies Essay

In his novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding tells of young boys stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. The boys quickly discover a conch shell and use it to call anyone else on the island, which gathers a big group. Although the boys start as extremely innocent figures, their lives quickly change, therefore affecting the way they act and treat each other. As Jack Merridew adjusts to a chaotic society, he resorts to “murder”(pdf) and a thirst for blood; the rigorous shift from innocence demonstrates Golding's belief of an orderless society being detrimental to human morality and sanity. As the novel begins, Golding explains how terrifying the idea of killing is to Jack, who is horrified at the sight of murder and “unbearable blood”(pdf). The

Quickly in defense mode, he fights that “he was choosing a place” (pdf) and “he was going to”(pdf) kill it. Golding displays Jack’s innocence when the truth is that Jack doesn’t want to; killing includes “the unbearable blood”(pdf). Jack holds fierceness as he wants to look tough and promises himself and the other boys that “next time there [will] be no mercy”(pdf). Jack is around 12 years old. Getting stranded on the island completely ends his childhood forcing Jack to grow up extremely fast. The boys are stranded for a long time; consequently, Jack becomes a more vicious hunter. He moves through the forest searching for food and sees a sow with her piglets. He immediately sees an opportunity to prove himself to the others. Going after the sow, Jack deliberately ignores his job to keep the fire going, sabotaging the first chance they’ve had at being rescued. Golding uses the experience of cold blood murder to directly show how Jack's priorities have changed; it is now more important for him to “be tough now”(pdf). He is excited to hunt and appears tough, whereas at the beginning, he was afraid of