What Does The Fire Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

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In the Lord of the Flies, symbols are used frequently throughout the story to convey the theme of individuals vs society. The symbol of the fire throughout the story changes and evolves according to what the boys decide to do. What the boys decide is based off on what they learned in society. The fire symbolizes many things, that are, the hope of being rescued, danger, the doubt of being rescued, adults, and death and destruction. At the beginning of the story, Golding has the boys first use the fire as a way of rescue “We can help them find us…we must make a fire” (Golding 38). The fire at this point in the story symbolizes rescue and is their rescue. The fire is the boys connection to go back to society. If the boys don’t have the fire …show more content…
Golding’s wording makes the fire imitates the feeling of the boys, “ The fire was out, smokeless and dead” (Golding 68). The word dead reflects the feeling of distress and fear because of its negative connotation. In society people are taught to fear death. When the fire dies, the boys become fearful that they will never be saved, at the point of the quote they will feel more distressed because they lost their chance to be saved then as a result of letting the fire go out. If they don’t get rescued then they will have to stay on the island until they die, this intensifies the fear the boys already have creating the emotion of hopelessness. The fire now has gone from symbolizes the hope of being rescued to doubt of being …show more content…
Without the fire we can’t be rescued” (Golding 142). In society children are directed to think that adults are the answers to their problems, without the fire, as mentioned in the last paragraph, the boys feel hopeless. At this point in the story Jack has separated from Ralph’s small group and has made his own tribe. Jack’s tribe have began to disconnect from society and go off of their own ideas, but they still rely on the fire, to cook their meat. By the end of The Lord of the Flies, the fire symbolizes death and destruction. Golding implies that death is approaching Ralph “ Now the fire was nearer; those volleying shots were great limbs” ( Golding 192). Jack’s tribe have become savage and have no recollection of their lives before the island, they give no thought on how the fire will destroy the island. Societies lessons on fearing death and destruction have left them, their own thoughts have overpowered

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