The acts of self-preservation become behaviors that would not appear under normal circumstances. For example during an ordinary day, a person would not attempt to threaten, sabotage, or even murder someone due to their emotional state. However, in a life-threatening or precarious position, morality shifts from consciousness and, as a result, this maliciousness arrives as a common occurrence.
While England is being bombed, a group of young boys is airlifted in order to get them to safety. On their way, the plane crashes on what they eventually call Skull Island. With no adults to guide them, leadership roles are forms and a temporary organization is constructed. However, feuds emerge, causing a disintegration of their newly formed society. The end result of this rivalry creates multiple missed opportunities for rescue, loss of necessities, and extreme emotional and physical stress on the boys. Arnold Johnston, author of Lord of the Flies: Fable, Myth, and Fiction, discusses the essence of the book with aspects of culture, language, and religion, "The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable." (Johnston 1). Johnston proposes the thoughts of William Golding, as he wrote the book, are looking not at the flaws in society but the errors in human nature. Survival is the most important element, according to Golding, and in order to survive, the normal conventions of society need to be put aside.
Published right after World War II where, in parts of Europe, civilization decomposed, the Lord of the Flies presents itself as an analogy to the human condition found during the war. The three main characters are Ralph, Jack, and Piggy. There is also a misinterpreted being called "The Beast".