ipl-logo

What Does The Fire Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

939 Words4 Pages

Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding is a novel in which the subjects of savagery versus civilization is explored. In the midst of World War II, a group of British school boys land on an uninhabited island after their plane crashes. Serving as a microcosm for the current state of the world, the novel demonstrates two major themes; man’s inclination toward evil and violence as well as man’s desire for social and political order. Golding illustrates these themes through the boys’ battle for survival and order along with the development of symbols throughout the story. In Lord of the Flies, the conch, the Lord of the Flies, and the fire are a few of the symbols employed in an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature and savagery. Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, and many of its …show more content…

When the fire is burning, Golding conveys a sense of promise of rescue. In contrast, when the fire is extinguished, Golding conveys a sense of loss as well as the stark realization that the boys have lost sight of their dreams of rescue, accepting their savage lives. As a result, the fire’s function is to act as a measurement of the remaining civilized instinct within the group. The fire not only stands for hope and rescue, but for chaos and destruction. The fire is uncontrollable, therefore causing chaos and obliteration to the natural wonders of the island. This aspect of the fire is a representation of the unpredictability of human savagery as opposed to humanity. Ironically, in the final chapter of the novel, the boys are rescued by a naval ship as a result of the fire. However, rather than the controlled signal fire used in attracting the ship, it is a fire of savagery, produced in an ineffective attempt to kill

Show More
Related
664 Words | 3 Pages

11) The title of my book is Crash. This is a good title because it captures the overall feeling of the story. The main character suffers through a traumatic vision that eventually is all she can think about. The vision ends up taking over her life, causing her to “crash” or shut down. She is unable to make the vision go away, which causes her to act out of the ordinary, so her friends and family begin to worry.

Read More
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.

Read More
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.

Read More
672 Words | 3 Pages

Imagine being stranded on island with a bunch of strangers and no possessions. Having to leave your old life, family, and civilization all behind. Just imagine. Meanwhile, In William Golding’s novel,  he  uses symbolism to tell the allegory of a few boys whose flight crashed into a deserted island in which they were left to fend for themselves. In the novel Ralph and the fire both connect to the theme that Golding references as a good vs evil where evil ultimately overtakes humanity.

Read More
748 Words | 3 Pages

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a story about a group of schoolboys caught in the middle of a nuclear war, who crash onto a deserted island with no adults to guide them. As months pass on the island, the boys begin to lose hope and begin to regress into savagery because there is no longer the structure in their lives they once previously had. The boys have a conch in the beginning of the book that symbolizes civilization and order, but one boy who is more savage than the rest, decides he no longer wants rules, only savagery. Throughout the book of Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows the importance of the beloved conch and how it lost its great and mighty power.

Read More
989 Words | 4 Pages

To conclude, Golding shows how the fire can be just as destructive in the wrong hands as helpful in the

Read More
2078 Words | 9 Pages

Outline: I. Introduction Hook Lead in to the text Summary of the text based on fire Some indication of fire Throughout the text, fire symbolizes hope for rescure but also dangerous destruction II. The symbol in the beginning of the story Quote about the boys excitedly gathering wood The concept of fire, something that has the power to lead the boys to being rescued, is strongly inspiring and results in many people pitching in to help.

Read More
1227 Words | 5 Pages

At the beginning of the book, the boys use the fire to be seen by a passing ship. This aspect of the fire represents the boys’ desire to return to civilization and their belief that they can maintain order and decency.

Read More
827 Words | 4 Pages

The Lord of the Flies novel, by William Golding, is a symbolic allegory, delving deep into the true horrors of war, savagery, and the loss of innocence throughout the duration of time the children spent on the island. I the novel a situation arises involving a dead parachutist, still he represents so much more than Mr. Golding makes apparent. Commonly applied to the story is the ideology of a “beast,” the concept behind these two aspects are similar, yet have a distinct separation between them. Just like the notion of the “beast” and the dead parachutist is the “Lord of the Flies” himself, pertaining to reasons related to that of the other two major examples of symbolism. The dead parachutist is so much more than what you see, you must go deeper

Read More
1077 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout the beginning of the novel, Ralph is the leader of the fight to keep and maintain the fire, but he is starting to give up hope and lets the fire die. Lastly, fire symbolizes hope during the end of the novel. Jack and most of the other boys have turned on Ralph and want to “hunt” him. They decided that the best way to get Ralph to come to them on the beach was to light the whole forest on fire so Ralph would be forced out to the beach. Ralph was trying to run out of the forest as “the roar of the forest rose to thunder and a tall bush directly in his path burst into a great fan-shaped fan.

Read More
972 Words | 4 Pages

Ralph keeps the fire burning, meaning that he is also keeping the whole group alive and encouraged. By emphasizing Ralph’s leadership and choices, Golding connects back to the theme, expressing the importance of an individual’s decisions and its effect on the whole

Read More
709 Words | 3 Pages

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, young boys get stranded on an island with no adults in the midst of a war. The boys were orderly and civilized in the beginning but then as they began killing pigs they slowly became savages and lost their civilization. The boys began turning on each other and the evil within them became present. Golding uses a variety of literary devices including personification, symbols, metaphors, and irony, to project the theme that pure and realistic people in the world can be unheard and destroyed by evil.

Read More
1004 Words | 5 Pages

First of all, the uncontrolled fire that nearly consumed the island was the consequence of rash behavior. The boys were so caught up in the moment thinking about rescue if they keep a fire going that they forgot think about future consequences. Because of reckless and impulsive behavior, “...a quarter of a mile square of forest was savage with smoke and flame” (Golding 34). This irrational act leads them to nearly destroy all hopes of rescue because the forest is one of the few resources that they have. This foolish scenario of a missed opportunity only occurred because of the frivolous and flippant boys that never once thought of anything else but themselves.

Read More
1057 Words | 5 Pages

The theme of human nature in The Lord of the Flies permeates the book through the characters, their archetypes, and the plot itself. In the first few chapters of Lord of the Flies, discrimination between characters is an example of the natural narcissism of human nature.. The most important of the characters include Ralph,

Read More
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.

Read More

More about What Does The Fire Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

Related Topics

Open Document