FREE ESSAY ON LOSS OF INNOCENCE

LOSS OF INNOCENCE

The Loss of Innocence
Certain childhood experiences are missed out by some people because of mishaps early on
in life. Any unfortunate event could cause the loss of innocence and make a child mature
before his or her time. This event or experience would cause them to sacrifice their
innocence. Many pieces of literature contain the loss of innocence as a theme. Examples
of these would be The Scarlet Letter, The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn, and The Catcher in the Rye.
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel that shows the theme of the loss
of innocence. Although it is not a major theme, it can be used to describe Pearl, the
daughter of Hester Prynne. Hester treated Pearl like the sin she committed, adultery, so
she grew up like it. Hester pleaded to keep Pearl because "all that she had was the
scarlet letter and her child. She is the living evidence of Hester's crime and she is a
part of her mother's shame. The scarlet letter printed on Hester's chest is there to 
remind everyone of Hester's guilt, which is something Pearl did as well. When Hester and
Pearl went to see Governor Bellingham, Hester told them how she felt about her daughter.
Sadly, she felt almost the same thing the Puritans did. However she also declared her
love for Pearl. "She is my happiness - she is my torture, none the less. Pearl keeps me
here in life! 
Pearl punishes me too!". The Puritans thought that this little girl was influenced by the
devil. She was a little like the bearer of the truth. None of the other children were
allowed around Pearl so she had no friends. She had a lot to handle as a child so this
compromised her innocence. Pearl was being punished for her mother's sins and she wasn't
accepted as a normal child her age would be. She had too much to bear at a young age.
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which was written by Mark Twain, Huck matures
quickly because he has to help Jim escape the ill fortune of slavery. He is torn between
the values of society and his young, innocent conscience. He is tormented by the thought
of turning Jim in and doing what everyone else thinks is right or staying loyal to his
new-found companion. He also has to use his intelligence to get down the river and bring
Jim to safety. By making these decisions he is no longer a child. He loses innocence and
becomes an adult because he doesn't have to make the decisions a child his age normally
has to. 
Their were numerous occasions in The Catcher in the Rye, written by J.D. Salinger, where
loss of innocence was used as a theme. The first, was when Holden broke the window when
Allie died. Losing his brother was a hard time for him. For him, Allie was the definition
of innocence. This was because Allie was a child when he died. He didn't grow to be an
adult and become corrupted. Another major time is when he is talking about the children
in the Rye field. Them falling off of the edge is their fall from 
innocence. Holden wanted to save them from losing their innocence, so he wanted to catch
them before they fell. He wanted to catch them before they became greedy and careless. In
this novel, one is repeatedly 
reminded of what Holden thinks of everyone but
himself. He hated society so much that he would leave school because of it. When asked
why he left his previous school he replied, "One of the biggest reasons I left Elkton
Hills was because I was surrounded by phonies. They were coming in through the goddam
window." 
Holden's parents can also be a factor in his obsession with keeping innocence. They tried
to confine him to be like them in their world. That was something he didn't want. To him
all adults, including his parents, were corrupted. They were phonies. This was the reason
he wanted his sister to say the way she was and the same age she was. Along with his
younger brother, Holden's younger sister was the one person he cared about. Phoebe was
still innocent but Holden was afraid of the day when she would grow up and become one of
the people he hated.
In conclusion, many people's innocence is lost because of tragic experiences in life.
Many novels and pieces of literature contain examples on the loss of innocence. The loss
of innocence is also the theme for many of these novels. Examples of these would be The
Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.