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Innocence in american literature
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Transition from Innocence to Experience Innocence is perceived in our society as a desirable trait. It is at odds with guilt making it the preferred of the two. However, innocence can also be at odds with experience. In this case innocence can weigh down an individual and not allow them to be as elevated as they could be. In the short story, Blue Bouquet a man is visiting a town when one night he decides to take a walk in the dark. He begins his journey in awe of the town but is soon aware of the dangers that it has lurking in the corners. As he is walking he is confronted by the antagonist who is in search of creating a bouquet of blue eyes. The protagonist having brown eyes is spared but being shaken by the encounter leaves town …show more content…
However, innocence must be kept in moderation as without it one may become weary and engulfed with situations out of their control. Without innocence, the bliss and joy in life may be lost. Ignorance consumes the human being, and the way that it is warded off is through the gathering of knowledge that we obtain with experience. It is the loss of ignorance that constitutes the loss of innocence. At the beginning of the story the protagonist is ignorant of his surroundings, and fails to take due precaution. In his room he remains, “barefoot” (p.163) even though there may be, “scorpions leaving [their] hideouts” (p. 163). …show more content…
Paz depicts this with his symbol in the cigarette and its simile as a comet. The speaker notes, “It drew a shining curve…like a tiny comet” (p.164). The comet in case represents innocence, as it is the brightness in the dark, nighttime sky. Nonetheless it will always disappear and maybe not be seen for a lifetime. This transition is a necessity as remaining in full innocence may have unintended consequences. In the analogy of the comet the larger and larger it appears to us earth, the closer it is to crashing and wreaking havoc. In terms of innocence, the larger and larger innocence is allowed to manifest, the greater the chances are of problems occurring. The protagonist’s innocence manifests to the point where the machete, “grazes [his] eyelids” (p.165) in the attempt to remove his eyes. Another significant symbol is the cigarette itself, its fire represents innocence in a similar way to the comet. As the fire in the cigarette burns out it gets closer to extinction. While the speaker has the lit cigarette he holds a romanticized view of his surroundings. He remarks that he, “felt free” (p.164) and full of, “such happiness” (p.164). It is only slightly after the fire burns out and he, “[throws] [his] cigarette down” (p.164) that his innocence begins to wane and experience waxes. Experience is necessary so that the mistakes are not
Analyzing innocence has always been a difficult task, not only due to it’s rapid reevaluation in the face of changing societal values, but also due to the highly private and personal nature of the concept. The differences between how people prioritize different types of innocence - childhood desires, intellectual naivety, sexual purity, criminal guilt, etc. - continually obscures the definition of innocence. This can make it difficult for people to sympathize with others’ loss of purity, simply because their definition of that loss will always be dissimilar to the originally expressed idea. Innocence can never truly be adequately described, simply because another will never be able to precisely decipher the other’s words. It is this challenge, the challenge of verbally depicting the isolationism of the corruption of innocence, that Tim O’Brien attempts to endeavour in his fictionalized memoir, The
Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, experiences cause a loss of innocence due to loss of
the author's view of a split of innocence and corruption in man, and the thought
...allude to the conflagration of the original night of the assault by way of the association cigarettes have with embers and ash. Thusly, this final mention of smoking helps the reader to connect all the information given throughout the novel about what truly happened the night of the assault.
"All things truly wicked start from an innocence,” states Ernest Hemingway on his view of innocence. Innocence, what every youth possesses, is more accurately described as a state of unknowing but not ignorance- which connotation suggests a blissfully positive view of the world. Most youth are protected from the harsh realities of the adult world. Therefore they are able to maintain their state of innocence. While innocence normally wanes over time, sometimes innocence can be abruptly taken away. Some of the characters in Truman Capotes In Cold Blood lost their innocence due to the traumatic events they experienced in childhood and adulthood while some had none to begin with.
" First, there is some confusion between innocence and ignorance. They are often used interchangeably. Because a person is innocent, it does not mean that he or she is unaware of reality. Innocence is almost like a different type of view. A child and an adult may interpret a single thing entirely differently, but this does not mean that the adult knows more about that thing.
Innocence is something everyone must eventually lose which is represented in the poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost. “The Outsiders” by S.E Hinton shows the life of a group of greasers and the hardships they face. Throughout the novel you witness the loss of these boys purity.
Innocence is referred to as one’s purity to the world. The loss of innocence occurs with the gain of knowledge. However, knowledge and understanding the ways of the world can only be obtained through exposure. In Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, the author reveals how exposure negatively impacts a person’s loss of innocence through newly found insight on the world. This is by the uses of word usage, contrast, and tone.
In the book, “Lord Of the Flies” by William Golding, innocence was the universal truth. The book shows that Piggy was trying his best to be loved and accepted among his peers. Piggy kept his faith on being rescued and always respect Ralph for the acceptance that Ralph gave him, but in the end it was not enough. In life, in some ways, I have been Piggy among my group of friends. Always searching for acceptance for who I am because I am different than every other boys in high school. I believe that people have a good heart and even if they are trying to cover it up with layers of walls. In, “The Twelve Archetypes” by Carol S. Pearson, the author stated that, “The Innocent is the spontaneous, trusting child that, while a bit dependent, has the optimism to take the journey.” I feel like this is great example to describe how I am as a
The idea of childhood innocence is one that could be interpreted in many different ways. Yusef Komunyakaa’s “English”, Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, Peter Tait’s “Too much information destroys childhood innocence”, and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road are all pieces that demonstrate how childhood innocence is preserved. In “English”, Komunyakaa describes a boy who sees an airstrike during a war and thinks it is a celebration because no one has ever explained the concept of war to him. “Harrison Bergeron” demonstrates a society that is very conservative about the knowledge they allow its civilians to obtain. Peter Tait’s article on preserving childhood innocence exposes the truths about social media and the easy access kids
“Ultimately, the journey from innocence to experience involves a change from a simple straightforward view of the world to a more nuance, complex understanding” (672). A boy longing for the attention of a girl who rarely acknowledged his existence would resent the experience of admiring her from a distance. The fact that faith and Christian go hand and hand, but if a man never builds his own foundation how could he ever hope to stand when the enemy entices his ear with a devious whisper. Or maybe looking into the eyes of a killer who have no remorse for his victims could rob an old lady of her innocence. It all boils down to experience; like telling a little white lie and being told soap could fix it. There is no point in life no matter how young or old one is where he/she does not regress to a state of innocence due to the lack of experience. With that being said, the complex understanding of life leads one into being straightforward.
The theme of Innocence and Experience is presented in the short story Good Country People by Flannery O’Connor. Hulga is a thirty years old woman with a wooden leg that clearly has resentment towards her mother for treating her like a child. Hulga lost her leg at a young age and has a terrible heart condition so her mother always felt the need to treat her a child. She has done everything in her power to go against her mother. Knowing that she is not like the women around her that marry off at an early age such as Camarae or as pretty as Glynese, Hulga drowns herself in reading and has even obtained a PhD. Her knowledge leads her to believe that she is much smarter than those around her until she meets a young man by the name of “Manley Pointer.” Pointer captures he attention and for once she thinks that someone understands her and acknowledges that fact that she is different until he takes off with her wooden leg and leaves her alone for with no way of getting down the ladder and back home. An innocent meeting with a guy that she thought understood her turned into an experience that Hulga will never forget and I believe will eventually leave her destroyed and only more distrustful of people.
Innocence is usually associated with youth and ignorance. The loss of one’s innocence is associated with the evils of the world. However, the term “innocence” can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Similarly, the loss of one’s innocence can be interpreted in more than one way, and, depending on the interpretation, it may happen numerous times. The loss of innocence is culture specific and involves something that society holds sacrosanct.
Innocence is something always expected to be lost sooner or later in life, an inevitable event that comes of growing up and realizing the world for what it truly is. Alice Walker’s “The Flowers” portrays an event in which a ten year old girl’s loss of innocence after unveiling a relatively shocking towards the end of the story. Set in post-Civil War America, the literary piece holds very particular fragments of imagery and symbolism that describe the ultimate maturing of Myop, the young female protagonist of the story. In “The Flowers” by Alice Walker, the literary elements of imagery, symbolism, and setting “The Flowers” help to set up a reasonably surprising unveiling of the gruesome ending, as well as to convey the theme of how innocence disappears as a result of facing the harsh reality of this world.
Innocence and experience are contradictory viewpoints. When one is innocent, one is not aware, therefore one is lacking experience. Experience, on the other hand, is having knowledge and knowing what to expect. In "The Garden of Love," experience and innocence are symbiotic dichotomies. The experience is issuing from the speaker’s statement of being to this garden more than once, meaning innocence is also a component of experience: "A chapel was built in the midst, / Where I used to play on the green" (3-4).