In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the boys display many human characteristics that lead to the collapse of their civilization. Some of these characteristics are fear, desire for power, and loss of values/morals. These characteristics led to violence, destruction, murder, and the end of their small civilization. Fear was one of the many characteristics that led to the civilization's collapse. In the book, the boys were afraid of many things in the forest. On page 112 of the book, Golding writes “They set off again, the hunters bunched a little by fear of the mentioned beast, while Jack quested ahead. They went more slowly than Ralph had bargained for.” This shows that the boys are scared of what is waiting for them up ahead. They are scared because they don’t know what is waiting ahead. They move slowly, being very cautious and aware of their surroundings. The boys also act like this when they go into an area where the “beast” was spotted. …show more content…
Many of the boys desired power so that they could be in control of everyone and everything else on the island. Jack was the most power-hungry and driven one out of all the boys. He stopped at nothing to get his way and was able to build a large team like that. Page 64 in the book says, “He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling. He capered toward Bill, and the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.” When Jack painted his face he started to lose his civilization and humanity. This is just the beginning of his savage behavior. Once the other boys pick up on Jack’s behavior, they start behaving like him and eventually, it causes problems for everyone on the