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The Symbolism Of Fire On The Islands

248 Words1 Pages
Fire was thought to be the children's hope and faith when they started on the island. They thought it was the best way they were going to get off the island to be rescued. The symbolism of fire can be argued in many different stances. My argument is that the whole book surrounds itself in hypocritically. In this case, fire would be the hypocritical symbolism. Fire is correlated with survival and usually have an important role. The beginning the fire is need to survive. Not only for warmth and for making life on the island more comfortable for the kids. Fire is seen as the most primitive usage for cooking their food and using it as light for the night time. Then the signal fire, the escape, the hope to the children. That is how it will save
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894 Words | 4 Pages

As a result from this, the signal fire assumes the role of a barometer of the boys’ connection to civilization. In the beginning of the story, the fact that the boys maintain the fire is a sign that they want to be saved and go back into society. When the fire burns low or goes out, it’s noticeable that the boys have lost their hopes to be rescued and have accepted their wild lives on the island. The signal fire functions as a measurement of the strength of the civilized instinct remaining on the island. At the end of the novel, ironically, a fire finally brings a ship to the island, but not the signal fire.

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634 Words | 3 Pages

In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the author uses the fire motif to convey that all uncontrolled situations inevitably lead to chaos. Jeannette was cooking hot dogs when she grabbed one with a fork, turned around, and bent over to feed it to her dog. Her dress was against the stove, and it caught on fire. She quickly realized and panicked. She “smelled the burning and heard a horrible crackling as the fire singed [her] hair and eyelashes” (9).

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436 Words | 2 Pages

Ultimately, the fire is a symbol of barbarity and savagery because the fire causes more chaos than the order they already had. Golden describes the scene as, “life became a race

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653 Words | 3 Pages

Jack takes his place and Ralph takes his. The boys are each trying to win over the other boys to join their different societies. Fire is the most important part of the novel; it represents hope. The boys start the fire in hopes to make enough smoke for someone passing by to notice they were there stuck on the island. Towards the beginning of the story, a plane passes over the island and the boys get excited about being rescued.

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883 Words | 4 Pages

The fire is described as, “ The flame, nearly invisible at first in that bright sunlight, enveloped a small twig, grew, was enriched with color and reached up to a branch which exploded a sharp crack. The flame flapped higher and the boys broke into a cheer” (Golding 41). The boys are all really happy that they are able to get a flame going so they will not freeze that night and so they could cook for nights to come. All the boys are filled with hope that they would survive and that they would be able to leave the island safely. Their hope, unfortunately, would later on disappear.

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672 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning the boys want to sustain the fire. This demonstrates their want to be return home. Nevertheless,  when the fire is allowed to go out, it is emblematic of the boys refusal of civilization and return to

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439 Words | 2 Pages

Paul Revere shouted throughout his midnight ride, “The Regulars are coming!” He was an American Patriot in the American Revolution who lived in Boston at the time. His lifespan was from 1735 to 1818, during the American Revolution. One of his famous quotes was “In Medford, I awakened the Captain of the Minutemen; and after that, I alarmed almost every house, till I got to Lexington.” Paul Revere is important to history because if he didn't warn Lexington about the British, America itself might not be known as America.

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989 Words | 4 Pages

So when Golding tells us that in Jack’s “left hand dangled Piggy’s broken glasses.” (191), it demonstrates that Jack’s savage boys now have the power to make fire. The fire symbolizes hope when on the civilized side but its inner demon is of destruction and evil. Predictably this demon does in fact come out when in the end Jack and his boys “had smoked him (Ralph) out and set the island on fire” (Golding 224), in order to kill Ralph. Ironically, the fire instead fulfills its civilized purpose, of a signal instead of killing Ralph. The purpose and the extreme strength of the fire here shows us that the boys had become brutal savages, literally killing civilization out of the their systems.

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1831 Words | 8 Pages

Fire represents many things as “ Fire symbolizes life, continuity and vitality.” (Mbiti 180) As the story moves on, the element of fire becomes more and more destructive due to the violence and conflict that disrupts nature peaceful state. An example of fire showing its destructive nature is when the Germans attacked Robert and his troops as “Fire storms raged along the front. Men were exploded where they stood–--blown apart by the combustion”(Findley 132).

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392 Words | 2 Pages

As with any story it is only fair to mention the rough times. Then when you read about the laughable times, it is worth it. There are a few incidents that I would like to mention in this book. Only because it might assist people in avoiding the ‘first time’ mistakes of owning this type of dog. Tailgate was built short and stout.

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545 Words | 3 Pages

The fire is the only clear source of light that they get in the book. Earlier in The Road the man describes the morning sun as still gray and gloomy. Having fire be the only source of bright light, and the place where the boy gets stories of the past, that is the only time the man and the boy get a little bit of hope in the

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591 Words | 3 Pages

Consequently, cooking on open fires and using candles to light their homes, for this purpose they stacked wood up for their stoves and stored tallow for their candles. In addition, tradesmen used large ovens, therefore keeping supplies of fuel in their houses as well as the many inns had stables attached therefore filled with fodder and straw. “Fire is never a gentle master”(Proverb) Indeed, their lifestyle played a hand in the destruction. However, there were other reasons why the fire raged out of control.

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1077 Words | 5 Pages

The first fire is built to signal ships for their rescue; it symbolizes hope here. Once the fire is burning brightly, the boys “paused to enjoy the freshness of [the fire]... they flung themselves down in the shadows that lay among the shattered rocks,” (41). The fire comforts the young island inhabitants because it lets them relax with the hope of getting rescued. The boys on the island start to lose hope, even Ralph. Ralph tells Piggy “let the fire go then, for tonight,” (164), showing that he has stopped caring about getting home.

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835 Words | 4 Pages

The fire was also a symbol of civilization, that the boys would survive and get rescued. Fire is quite profound in what it reveals about humans. The fire was the object that the hunters didn’t have, it was desirable because it was limited. The fire brought out the innate greed that humans possess. The hunters weren’t content with asking for fire from Ralph, they were too prideful and savage to be civil in any manner, so they stole it.

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494 Words | 2 Pages

Fire was used to represent Wright’s development educationally when Richard begs for Granny's house guest, Ella, to read to him. Richard says “my imagination blazed” (Wright 39). In this context the word has much meaning about Richard’s yearning passion for reading. This shows that Richard has a desire for learning and reading and once, and even after Richards Granny had told him he could not read in the house again, he vows to read as many books as he could when he got older.

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