youth

• “Ralph considered this and understood. He was vexed to find how little he thought like a grown up and sighed again.”


  -explores the inner conflict between youth and maturity

  -verb “considered” suggests that Ralph is beginning to think more deeply and reflectively — a sign of growing maturity.

  -Ralph recognises his own limitations, highlighting the gap between his youthful instincts and the expectations of adulthood.

  • “sighed again”, evokes a sense of weariness beyond his years. Ralph is burdened by responsibilities that should not belong to someone so young,
• “They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort...They cried for their mothers much less often than might have been expected.”


  -illustrates how the island erodes the natural innocence of childhood

  -adjective “untold” implies — they do not openly express their emotions, which reflects how they are being forced to suppress their natural childlike responses in an effort to survive.

  • “they cried for their mothers much less often" this restraint highlights how quickly the boys are becoming desensitised and emotionally distant. The absence of parental figures is normalising their suffering,
• “with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart"


  -ralphs description highlights how far he has regressed from civilisation. These childlike, almost pathetic details contrast sharply with the emotional weight of what he is experiencing.

  -unwiped nose” serves as a reminder that he is still just a boy

  • The phrase “wept for the end of innocence” signals that Ralph has lost the purity and naivety of childhood.“innocence” implies a moral and emotional purity has been stripped away by the violence and savagery they were forced to confront and ultimately became part of.
  • “the darkness of man’s heart.” suggests that the evil the boys encountered was not just a product of the island, but something innate within them