Hope is necessary because having hope can help people accomplish whatever they set their minds to. When hope is lost, everything falls apart because people feel like they do not have the urge to keep going. In ‘Lord of the Flies’, William Golding writes about boys who land on an isolated island after their plane crashes. The boys face numerous problems while creating their society, and multiple symbols are used to portray Golding’s ideas on human nature. One key symbol of the fire appears in the story, throughout the boys’ adventure on the secluded island. In ‘Lord of the Flies’, the fire initially represents the boy’s hope of getting off the island, but later shifts to represent destruction. Golding uses the fire symbol to describe how hope is necessary for society, and without it, destruction will occur.
The fire gives hope to the boys on the island, and without the fire, they begin to feel doubtful. The idea of the fire helps the boys believe that they will be rescued by adults. As the boys figure out what they should do on the island, Ralph explains: “If a ship comes near the island, they may not notice us… We must make a fire” (Golding, 29-30). Ralph’s main priority is to get off the island, and he believes that the boys should create a fire to make adults notice them. As Ralph explains his idea, he feels hopeful that they will be saved and believes that the only way to keep their hope is by maintaining a fire. Similar to how hope is seeing light in the darkness, the fire is a literal and symbolic ‘light’ for the boys. Additionally, when the boys do not have the fire, they feel helpless. When Jack comes back from hunting, Ralph complains: “There was a ship out there. You said you’d keep the fire going and you let it out!” (Golding, 59). The fire is the only way that anyone could notice the boys on the island. Ralph’s anger proves that he lost hope when he realizes that the fire went out. The boys feel helpless because they understand that they may have lost their possibility of getting off the island. Golding uses these examples of the fire to contrast what happens with and without hope. He tries to indicate how hope is a main necessity when facing any situation.
Throughout the book, the fire represents destruction when the fire isn’t controlled. As the boys abuse the main purpose of the fire, damage occurs on the island. When Jack is looking for Ralph, Ralph notices that “the fire was a big one and the drum roll that he thought was left so far behind him was nearer” (Golding, 178). Jack is so eager to kill Ralph that he does not care if he burns the whole island down. The fact that the fire’s purpose changes from a way to get rescued to a method to kill Ralph indicates how the boys are misusing the fire. As the boys are using the fire to burn down the island, they are displaying the destruction of the island because they are ruining what used to be an untouched island. Furthermore, the fire highlights how careless humans are. After the boys set a portion of the island on fire, they notice that “a tree exploded in the fire like a bomb… ‘That little ’un that had a mark on his face, I don’t see him. Where is he now?’” (Golding, 38). The boys’ carelessness causes the island to be destroyed and also causes a little ’un to be killed. The destruction that the boys start proves that humans are naturally destructive, even when they are placed on an uninhabited island. Golding uses the destruction in the novel as a biblical allusion to the Garden of Eden to represent how humans are innocent until they are drawn to evil.
Lastly, the fire is used to indicate the destruction of the boys’ past. During the boys’ ritual, Jack “ran stumbling through the thick sand to the open space of rock beyond the fire… ‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood’” (Golding, 135). The fire represents not only destruction from the outside but also from the inside. The boys use the fire as a part of their savage ritual, proving how much the boys have changed from when they first arrived at the island. The boys become more violent by practicing their ritual with the fire, indicating that their morals from their past civilization are destroyed.
Golding uses the fire as a way to explain his beliefs on how society can be destroyed without hope, based on his own experiences during World War II. ‘Lord of the Flies’ helps readers understand the necessary components to maintain a well-running society. In our civilization, there are many cases where people aren’t willing to work together because they do not believe in the benefits that could develop from collaborating. Without hope and maintaining a structured society, destruction and conflicts can occur. Instead, having a different mindset where people have the desire to work towards the greater good could prevent overall chaos from happening.
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