Archetypal+Symbols

- For example: Red (blood, sacrifice, passion), Yellow (enlightenment, wisdom), 4 (associated with life cycle, seasons, nature, elements), 3 (spiritual awareness, unity, light).
 * Light vs. Darkness: Light depicts renewal, intellectual illumination, or hope. Darkness depicts despair, the unknown, ignorance
 * Water vs. Desert: Water is often depicted as a strong force; it is usually a symbol of cleansing. Desert is the complete opposite.
 * Fire: Fire depicts light, life, knowledge, and rebirth.
 * Colors and Numbers can also be symbols

“They found the likeliest path down and began tugging at the dead wood. And the small boys who had reached the top came sliding too till everyone but Piggy was busy. Most of the wood was so rotten that when they pilled, it broke up onto a shower of fragments and woodlice and decay; but some trunks came out in one piece.” ... “Life became a race with the fire and the boys scattered through the upper forest. To keep a clean flag of flame flying in the mountain was the immediate end and no one looked further.” (Golding II, 40).

The signal fire that burns on the mountain is an archetype that reinforces the theme of the novel. It represents life, in other words, it becomes the boys connection to civilization. In the beginning of the novel, the boys maintain the fire which shows that they want be be rescued and reintegrated into society. When the fire burns low it shows that they have lost the desire to be rescued. So in a way the fire serves as a measurement of the strength of the civilized instinct that remains on the island.