This was shown in the novel by how the boys, when they first arrived on the island, began to organize their new lifestyle by building fires to try to summon help and by building shelters. By the end of the novel they had abandoned this form of civilation and began to spend there days fighting between the two groups, that is between Ralph and Jack. As a result of this primitive and violent behavior, two were killed (Piggy and Simon) and another was lost in the fire they lit that burned one side of the mountain on p. 53; but that was because they were careless about the way they kept the fire going. Some of the themes in the story were a result of there nature as children, such as the way they instantly made fun of Piggy's name on p. 29 and how the younger children spent most of their days playing on the beach.
Lord of the Flies
Re-Covered Books: The Lord of the Flies
Lord of the FliesBut this is because they were only children and therefore acted like children. Another theme was the struggle for control of the island but this would happen with any group of people (ie: one person wants to be in control and do anything to get it). At the start Jack was embarrased when he was not made chief, and probably resented the fact that Ralph, who was smaller than him, had control of the group but Jack still had a small part of authority over the choir and most of the children that were smaller than him. This was not enough for him though because as the novel continued he slowly took over and by the end he had everyone in his group (the savages) doing his bidding which included hunting the others down to kill them. One other theme is Ralphs concern...