For one thing, it's in the wrong place. A signal fire's not much use on a beach. It would be far too difficult for any approaching ships to spot. It would've been much better to have built the fire in a more strategically important location such as up on the mountainside. But that would've risked turning over this vital task to Jack and his gang, who consider building fires to be their exclusive responsibility.
A formal split has occurred among the boys and now that Jack has taken off to the other side of the island with his own merry band of savages, Ralph and Piggy figure that they should take the opportunity to start a fire in his absence. Unfortunately, as they haven't really thought things through, they haven't figured out the consequences of what building a fire on the beach will entail. Apart from anything else, they've greatly underestimated Jack and his capacity for causing trouble. Just because he's left the beach to head off to the other side of the island doesn't mean that he's no longer a threat. And as Ralph and Piggy's fire is in such a strategically vulnerable position, they've made it all too easy for Jack and his gang to steal logs whenever they feel like it.
There are several problems with Piggy and Ralph's plan to build the fire on the beach. This decision essentially symbolizes the boys’ surrender to the mysterious nature of the island and the complete fracture of the relationship of all the boys. The beach is not a good strategic location; it would have been smarter to stay on top of the mountain where the wood was drier and accessible enough to make a big fire. This would have attracted more attention from potential rescuers (as originally planned). When the fire is moved to the beach, the boys need to walk great distances to gather wood, which leaves it to be maintained by too few boys. This ultimately leaves it unprotected and a much easier target for others; this is realized when Jack easily steals burning logs from Ralph’s fire.
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