Thus, when Jack's hunters raid Ralph's camp and steal the glasses, the savages have taken the power to make fire, and Ralph's civilization is left helpless.
The signal fire burns on the mountain, and later on the beach, to attract the notice of passing ships that might be able to rescue the boys. As a result, the signal fire becomes a symbol for the boys' connection to civilization. " The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't want to keep the fire going? Is a fire too much for us to make?- (p.80) As long as the fire is well maintained, the boys exhibit a desire to return to society, but when the fire burns low or goes out, the boys lose sight of their desire to be rescued, having accepted their savage lives on the island. The signal fire thus functions as a kind of measuring stick by which the strength of the civilized instinct on the island can be judged. Ironically, at the end of the novel, it is a fire that finally summons a ship to the island, but not the signal fire: it is the fire of savagery "the forest fire Jack starts as part of his quest to hunt and kill Ralph.
One of the most important symbols of the novel, the imaginary beast, which frightens all the boys, stands for the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings. The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon realizes that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. "What I mean is . Maybe it's only us." (pg.89) Simon's statement that the boys themselves are the beast is central to the novel's theme of innate human evil. This is the first moment in which the beast is explained not as an external force but as a component of human nature. As the boys grow more and more savage, their belief in the beast grows stronger and more pronounced. By the end of the novel, they are leaving it sacrifices and treating it as a totemic god.
