Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” is a novel that focuses on the instinctual impulses that lies within all humans. Throughout the novel, the characters struggle with the loss of their innocence in various ways. Golding points out through the actions of the group of boys that savagery was always instinctually within them and was brought out by their predicament.
At the beginning of the novel, the boys on the island stick to their well-behaved demeanors and vote as a group to elect a leader. The group picks Ralph who splits up the group, telling some to find food while telling the others to start a signal fire. At first, this order of hierarchy works for the boys, they continue to hunt for food and keep the signal fire burning strong. But, as some of the boys realize that there is no parental supervision, many neglect their duties and spend majority of their time frolicking in the ocean. This leads to conflict because the boys that were supposed to be keeping the signal fire burning strong instead chose to play in the water. This fight between the boys is the first indication of how savagery was always instinctually within the boys and was brought out by the situation they were in.
