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Loss of Innocence in Lord of the Flies
As the novel progresses we see how the children become more and more savage and Ralph is aware of their loss of innocence at several moments during the novel. One of these moments is after they kill Simon. Write an entry reflecting on his loss of innocence showing how he felt towards what they had done.
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ResponderBorrarHi there!
ResponderBorrarRalph here… Hope y’all fine off the island. As for us, a downward spiral.
Perhaps you thought things here weren’t bad enough here. Indeed were they not! To top off the macabre presence of the lurking beast on the mountain-top, yesterday Jack’s breakaway from the group finally took place. What a disgrace! What a disgrace!
Though he was initially alone, it was a matter of time before the majority of the group, to whom temptation was far stronger than their convictions, left and adhered to his dictatorship. Why dared they, I can’t tell. Some meat and a feast was everything Jack needed to talk them into savagery. Masks, spears and death. Death! Oh death.
Left alone with the vestiges of our community, Samneric, Piggy and I decided it would be best to join their party to take control of the situation there. Simon? Nowhere. Why?
My chieftaincy, looked through. The weather, sticky, scorching; and the sky, leaden. An air of Hell, of a burning, urgent and blind desire to kill drove the group for a moment or two. In fact, for a moment or two was it that the dance, the “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” took over our minds. Jeez!
Out of the blue, the unbearably horrific beast appeared crawling right from the woods. It appeared and showed its dreadfully childlike face. And Simon appeared, and, like the beast, was bombarded with sharp sticks, which fell on him as we relieved the fire burning within ourselves. And though the fire expanded rather was set out, the blissfulness brought on by the death of the beast, the beast of good, of morality, overmastered each one of us. Us?
Actually, was it us? Piggy says it was more like “them”. Were we outside the ring of death, which successfully killed the beast and relieved us? We were not! Murderers! That’s what we are, and yet we can’t summon up the courage to admit it. Shall we instead remain silent, shan’t we? Don’t you tell!
I’m scared. They be the beast and I’m surrounded by them, on the outside, on the inside. And I am the beast. And I killed. Killed. Killed.
You did make it Simon! You did escape from us all! Will you please rest in peace!
Incredible job Joan! Congratulations!!!
BorrarHi guys, is Ralph here! What’s up? I’m not too good to be honest with you. Something terrible but also dazzling happened.
ResponderBorrarDo you all remember Simon? Well, he is no longer with us. He died last night. I feel kind of guilty, you know. He was such a great kid and always was trying to cheer me up by telling me that I would get home. Oh God, I remember those moments. I wish he could be right here with us like I really wish it.
But the dazzling part is that I learned something about this. Do you know the phrase ‘learn from your mistakes’? well…. that’s what I did. I learned that the evil is inside everyone’s body even if you are the coolest person in the whole world. But the difference is that there’s some people who can’t control themselves and are manipulated by it, like Jack’s case. The evil invades his body and he’s really out of control, like is freaking insane.
A thing that I also understood is which are the real priorities. Friends, friends are the priority, not a pathetic piece of meat.
So, I hope nothing like this to happen again.
Bye guys! Love u all!
Ralph.
Great message in connection with friendship. Totally agree!
BorrarHi everyone
ResponderBorrarRalph speaking, we're still on this damn island.
Jack is everyday more and more against me and being more savage. The other day he split the group and he said that he and his hunters were going to live along the beach by a flat rock. He also said that they were going to hunt, feast and have fun. At first everyone stayed, but a couple of minutes later everyone went with Jack.
Before the storm started, Piggy and I heard that Jack and the others were having a party, so we decided to go.
When we arrived to the party, Jack demanded to his hunters to begin their ceremonial dance as soon as the thunderstorm started. Roger started to play the role of the pig, and the hunters surrounded him while they jabbed their spears, waved their clubs, and began to chant.
Piggy and I initially joined the dance because we felt more secure around the group of boys during the storm than standing by ourselves. We were also attracted to the frenzied environment of the ritual.
Then seemingly out of nowhere, Simon stumbled onto the beach, and the group of hunters encircled him. The group of boys initially mistook Simon for the beast as they began to savagely beat him to death. Piggy and I participated in Simon's murder because we were in such a frenzied state of confusion and blood thirst that we both got caught up in the excitement and we couldn´t restrain ourselves from participating.
I really feel very remorse for what we did to you Simon. Please rest in peace.
Detailed account of facts. Good job
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ResponderBorrarEste comentario ha sido eliminado por el autor.
BorrarHey there, it's Ralph.
ResponderBorrarLately, everything I have worked so hard to achieve with the group has started crumbling down.
It's mainly Jack's fault, with his dumb hunger of power. Even though I'm not completely innocent he was the one that, with some dirty tricks and confusing speechs, managed to convince everyone of following him, and I was left alone with Piggy, as if I had never mattered. I was gonna stay there with my pride but suddenly it started raining and we saw the others partying. And we felt really lonely. So, we decided to join them and, for a split second, as we were chanting and dancing all together, everything was normal again.
But then, as if it were merely an illusion, everything shattered like glass.
Simon had approached us and, because of the pent up fear and anger we all had crawling inside our hearts, we mistook him for the beast. And we went bonkers. And we killed him.
Even when we realised it was him and not the monster, we kept going. We turned into animals, so bloodthirsty and madly terrified we killed one of our own with no second thoughts.
Now I don't know what to do with this deep guilt that haunts me. Simon didn't deserve to die. We are the real monsters here.
Excellent reflection Guadalupe
Borrarhello everyone, this is ralph writing from the island.
ResponderBorrarI'm very worried ...
I feel like a savage.every day that passes we lose something more of civilization and that scares me.
Yesterday something terrible happened with Simon, and I cannot believe that I have participated, in reality I cannot believe that we, who are a group of children, reached this point, it is difficult for me to write it but i have to tell you, we kill him and the guilt is killing me . I would like to think like Piggy, denying what had happened but remorse eats my brain.
I am frustrated trying to keep this group safe and I realize it is getting out of hand, first Jack dividing the group, and now this !!!I want to cry and hug my mother, I want to go home. We need to be rescued urgently or more tragedies will ensue.
I'll keep you posted
regards
Salutations. I want to say that I’m Ralph… but actually, I don’t even know who I am anymore.
ResponderBorrarSo, in case you were wondering, yes, Simon is dead, and it’s my fault. You’re probably wondering how we all got up into this situation, and the answer is simple: Jack. Remember that guy? The crazy boy who just wanted to hunt and “Kill the pig”, “Cut his throat” “Bla bla bla?” Well, he managed to form his own group with most of the biguns, who, tempted by the overwhelming desire for their so called “freedom”, abandoned our team and all hopes of getting rescued.
Piggy encouraged me to go to the feast Jack’s team was having with the excuse of controlling the situation in case something happened; poor Piggy, even his civilized stomach was betrayed by the savage and primal desire for meat.
When we got there, the littluns were in the feast as well, happy to have their stomachs filled with something as delicious as meat. But what shocked me the most was Jack, who looked like a new, unleashed person. He looked at us through a peculiar and painted layer, and he even had the courage to claim that the conch held no power over HIS side of the island, which left me speechless. How dare he, the most irrational kid on the island, claim to be over the rules of our precarious, yet, functioning system?
Suddenly, as the rain started pouring over our heads, Jack encouraged all the children to dance in a frantic and unleashed way. The savage, frenzied manners in which they were moving ended up with me succumbing to my inner thoughts and need to join them. I wish I could now tell you that I was joking, but this will only get worse and downhill from here.
Unaware of this demented and terrifying event, poor Simon staggered from the forest, happy and excited about something he must had discovered while we were on the feast. His little silhouette running through the rain, yelling and trying to gain our attention managed to be perceived by us, without suspecting his action had condemned him to his doom. A cry from inside the mob; “The Beast!” someone yelled, I can’t even comprehend who it was, and, at this point, it would not make a difference knowing this. We, as a whole, fell down on Simon, blinded and led by a primal and frenzied inner feeling. The boy’s screams of help and pain were overpowered by the sickening and repulsive sounds of teeth clawing flesh and beats against skin. We let our burning need to kill take over us, we silenced our rational minds in order to relieve our deeper urge to hurt and destroy. Too late, too late we realised our crucial mistake, which shook me to the core.
I can’t stop thinking about what Simon once said to me “You’ll get back to where you came from”, at that time, I didn’t thought about it for too long, but now it seems to be impossible to get it out of my head, he said “you”, not “we”, did he always know about his fate? Was Simon the only one who managed to see through the veil and realize the beast existed only within ourselves? Was I too blind to predict the chaos and destruction that was coming nearer every day? Maybe I was. Simon will always remain in our memories, as the angel sent from Heaven, who finally found the way back home. Good luck, Simon, you did it, you got back to where you came from.
If there’s something I’ve learnt from this is: Jack will not overpower me again. We can not play his game and pretend we didn’t just murder one of our kind. Jack is the danger, the one who will lead us all to death if we agree to follow him. The only chance of getting rescue we have is to stick to the initial rules of our community, though I doubt anyone will listen to me anymore, the only ones I can truly rely on are Piggy and Samneric. We will not give in, we will persevere, even if that bring us death, which now seems like a better fate that kneeling to Jack’s dictatorship and progressive destruction of it all. If I have to stand up and claim my position as a leader again, then I will, for Simon, for Piggy, for the littluns, for everyone.
Brilliant reflection on Ralph's perceptions and feelings!
ResponderBorrarHello people,i am Ralph talking to you guys from the island
ResponderBorrarRight now i am having a mixture of emotions,i am feeling worried,i am feeling sad,and disappointed but i am mostly worried
As you can imagine things aren’t going well in here,But let me tell you guys that you’re all wrong,things here are going HORRIBLY WRONG.Right now i feel like i am losing all of the civilization remains that i had in myself i feel like i am becoming an animal,A wild one,you have to see it to believe it.
Yesterday something traumatic happened with Simon,And i am very disappointed to myself for participating in it,But that’s not what i am really concerned about,in fact,i cannot believe that we as a group of children did this.
Going straight to the point We killed Simon for only a piece of meat,i find this terrible and something inside me is dying,is difficult for me to write this but i have to .
In conclusion i think that people that are in critical situations,like this one,have more tendency to become crazy and actually do things like this.
Please enjoy the moments of your life,you can’t know what will happen next so please valorate all the things you have.
Be safe
Ralph