Humans very much need civilization. The Novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding demonstrates how civilization not only provides an atmosphere where sanity thrives, but keeps order and peace in the midst of, what could be chaos.
In Lord of the Flies, the organization of society is diminished and, eventually, lost when a group of young boys are stranded on a remote island. Piggy, a rather chubby child, always tries to maintain the order of civilization in peace by suggesting the building of shelters at once. Ralph, a natural leader, also demonstrates this idea of civilization with the conch and the bonfire. Ralph makes the conch the podium of which only the person with the conch in hand may speak in a meeting and for the bonfire to be always lit as a constant signal if a ship comes nearby. As the characters lose their innocence, they want to become part of something and belong in a separate 'group'. This is one instinctive reason why reckless Jack and sensible Ralph separate into two groups and the other children choose sides to follow. When this happens, they lose their identity to who they are as an individual. Jack, a natural antagonist in the novel, loses his socialized identity first and acquires the thirst to hunt for meat and behave more wild-like. All humans have a natural desire for power. This is demonstrated when everyone disobeys the order of the conch, set down by Ralph, and interrupts the other's message for their own comments. When a person is more knowledgeable, people look up to him or her for answers and explanations as a leader. In a group of young boys that are all close to the same age and are isolated from society, competition is presented and even the original leader becomes challenged. When that position is challenged, the essence of civilization is lost and desires to obey natural instincts emerge.
Civilization is the key to survival in a world of an instinctive power-thirsty population. Without organized structure of some sort, a mass world war between people would break out, as demonstrated in the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding.