The fire expresses another duality as well, a before and after for Ralph’s perception of their situation and his role. This first bonfire is an act of communal play for all the boys, topped off with Ralph standing on his head to mark their triumph. The fire becomes more like serious work when they make plans for specific teams to tend it. Later, with the probable deaths of some of the little boys, Ralph begins to realize that the group’s disregard for his authority can and will have grim consequences. Before the fire, the boys take time for play, a luxury available only to those protected by a civilization, not for those engaged in a fight for survival.
Ultimately, the fire is about savagery: For the boys rushing around for firewood, “Life became a race with the fire,” a phrase that quietly foreshadows Ralph’s flight for his life at the end. And while fire starting was one of the first technologies to separate humanity from the animals, to start this fire, the boys adopt a primitive use of force in taking Piggy’s glasses from him, making him an unwilling Prometheus.
Note that on this first day together, the group has already banded together to physically overwhelm Piggy — a show of physicality over intellect. It is also an uprising of children against an adult figure. Although Piggy is in the same age group as the other boys, he nonetheless holds the role of “martyred . . . parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of the children.” On this island, for the first time in their lives, the boys experience sheer autonomy. “This is our island . . . Until the grownups come and fetch us, we’ll have fun,” Ralph says, in an utterly failed and foolish prophecy.
