Taken at face value the title simply refers to the lighting of the signal fire on the mountain top. It could also refer to the fact that the signal fire got out of control and set fire to a pocket of trees on the mountain side. However as symbolism is often used in Lord of the Flies the title could refer to beacon fires which were lit during war time as a warning that the enemy was approaching. This might be a veiled allusion to the fact that things were already beginning to go wrong on the island and the first cracks in their society had begun to appear.
Chat with our AI personalities
"In this chapter, Piggy's glasses are stolen by Jack . The Glasses are of great importance since it is only by them that fire can be created. At first , Ralph and Samneric think that Jack's raiding party came for the Conch but in reality , they came for the Glasses."
When Ralph said, in chapter 8: Gift for the Darkness, and I quote "We've no fire. That thing sits up there-- we'll have to stay here." Piggy replied, "We got no fire on the mountain. But what's wrong with a fire down here?"
Piggy finally comes up with the brilliant idea that they could build a new signal fire down by the beach instead of depending on the one up on the mountain.
Chapter 20
In Chapter 2: Fire on the Mountain the 'shameful knowledge' is the realisation that after they had spent much of their energy building a huge bonfire they had no way of lighting it. Ralph initially avoided making any confession by enquiring of Jack, "Will you... Will you light the fire?" To which Jack managed a mumbled reply about rubbing sticks together and then, to quote from the book... He glanced at Ralph, who blurted out the last confession of incompetence. "Has anyone got any matches?"