What Does The Fire Symbolize In Lord Of The Flies

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The Symbol of Fire In life there are many things and even people that have two sides. Fire is one of these things. Fire brings survival and life as well as death and destruction. It also can symbolize hope as well as fear and savageness. In William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" there was a plane crash which stranded a group of boys on an island and over the course of the story they evolve and change. Fire is used in this story to show the feelings and priorities of the boys through the story. At first it symbolizes hope for rescue and survival then later it turns to symbolizing fear and the savageness of the boys. In the beginning of the story Ralph shows how hopeful he is in the fire when he says, "we've got to have special people for looking after the fire. Any day there may be a ship out there." The fire is symbolizing their rescue as well as Ralph's hope(Golding42). Ralph is putting people to there to guard the fire. He is having them guard his hope because without the fire Ralph's hope is extinguished and put out, waiting to be relit. The fire in this quote also symbolizes rescue for the group. Ralph feels very strongly that the fire is the only way they can be saved. This makes him and the other boys associate the fire with rescue and their escape which ultimately circles back to hope.…show more content…
Ralph's hope is fleeting when he says,"There was a ship. Out there. You said you'd keep the fire going and you let it out." Ralph is speaking to Jack because he let the fire go out which was really letting his hope and their rescue die out and disappear into ashes(70). Ralph is losing his fire/spark and his faith in jack as well as his hope in
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