Symbols: The Signal Fire

    The signal fire acts as a measurement of the boys’ connection with civilisation. In Chapter 2, the boys were working together to put up the signal fire, with some gathering fuel and the biguns lighting up the fire. A sense of camaraderie was established, as everyone understood the importance of rescue. However, as time goes by, the boys forget about the signal fire, with the littluns playing, along with Jack instigating some other boys to hunt. The signal fire is then put out and not taken care of later on, which causes the chance of rescue to be lost when a ship passed by. The boys simply accepted the fact that they had to live on the island without any adults, hence falling to savagery and wrong prioritisation. Therefore, the signal fire tells us of the boys’ remaining civilised instincts and conditioning of society, as when the fire was up, the boys realised the importance of returning to society, and when the fire was absent, the boys had overcome the conditioning of society in the past and turned to savagery.