Throughout William Golding's Lord of the Flies, a theme of human survival and the fragile nature of civilization is clearly seen.  The novel shows that the instincts of human nature will eventually take over the instinct to live by the rules.  Man's instinct is to act violently to obtain dominance over others and enforce his will on others.  Through the characters of Ralph and Jack, one can see how people who think they are above the law can easily offset the fragile nature of civilization.

When the boys arrive on the island, the influence of society can be seen in them in their initial formation.  Ralph blows on a conch to call order and all the boys cooperate. However, the longer the boys stayed on the island, the more conflict began to emerge.  One of the firsts instances of this is seen by...