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In Lord of the Flies, why did the Navy come to the island?
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The Navy arrives on the island after detecting smoke from a massive forest fire started by Jack's group in their attempt to capture Ralph. This fire symbolizes the complete descent into savagery by the boys. As the blaze engulfs the island, a naval officer appears, drawn by the smoke, and rescues the boys. This intervention highlights the thin veneer of civilization over inherent human savagery, mirroring the wartime chaos outside the island.
Jack and his followers light a fire that goes out of control and sets the whole island—whole walls of trees—ablaze in a giant conflagration. The fire symbolizes how out of control Jack and his group have become in their lust for violence. Ralph, who they have been chasing in order to kill him and eat him, collapses on the sand at the shore of the island as the flames come closer. He wakes up to see the white cap of a naval officer above him. The officer explains that his naval vessel detected the smoke of the fire and came to investigate.
Once the ship with its adult crew arrives to rescue the boys, the barbarous island adventure is over. Since the context of the novel is World War II, however, the ship that saves them is a symbol of the larger scale barbarity of a world at war....
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Civilization is a thin veneer, the novel asserts, thrown over mankind's inherently savage nature.
At the end of the novel, the boys lose their humanity and become savage. They hunt and kill each other.
Ralph has been trying to maintain order and keep the signal fire going, but Jack's group would rather hunt instead. Piggy is killed when Roger pushes a boulder on him, Sam and Eric are captured, and Ralph is alone. He hides as the others search for him. Sam and Eric find him and tell him they joined Jack after being tortured. They also tell him Jack and the boys are coming for him. To flush Ralph out of the forest, the hunters set the trees on fire.
Ironically, the forest fire is what draws the attention of the Navy. A naval officer appears just as the boys are closing in on Ralph. The Navy comes because they see the fire.
Why did the navy come to the island in Lord of the Flies?
In the backdrop of the story, a world war is taking place and the events on the uninhabited tropical island serve as a microcosm of what is currently happening in the outside world. The characters in the story are directly impacted by the war, which is why they are on the island in the first place. The boys' plane is initially shot out of the sky by a missile at the beginning of the story and an air battle is fought in the sky directly above the island. Initially, Ralph believes that his father, who is a commander in the Navy, will eventually rescue them and instructs the boys to create a signal fire on the top of the mountain.
Unfortunately, Jack allows his hunters to dismiss the signal fire, which goes out moments before a ship passes the island. After losing a rare opportunity for rescue, Jack gradually undermines Ralph's authority and chaos ensues on the island. By the end of the story, Jack and his hunters start a massive forest fire in an attempt to smoke Ralph out of his hiding spot. Fortunately, Ralph manages to avoid the hunters and stumbles onto the beach, where a British naval officer is standing. The officer asks Ralph if there are any adults on the island and Ralph looks at the sky, which is completely black. The Navy officer then tells Ralph,
We saw your smoke. What have you been doing? (288)
Essentially, the Navy officers noticed the massive black clouds above the island and decided to see if there was anybody living on the island. Jack's forest fire ended up catching the attention of a passing ship, which happened to be part of the Royal Navy.