Fire & Water
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The two most significant symbols of the movie are fire and water.
Fire is representative of the alternate reality that Teddy is in. Whenever there is fire or smoke around, that generally means that Teddy is hallucinating and very far from reality. For example, when Teddy is in the cave with the campfire and what he believes is Rachel Solando, it is a hallucination. Another example is when he blows up the car and there is a large plume of fire, he has a hallucination of his wife and daughter. One other example is the fact that Teddy’s wife died in a fire, when in actuality Laeddis killed his wife. Water is representative of reality and the truth. It seems that whenever water is nearby, he gets closer to reality. For example, the large storm that blows in is keeping him on the island which will lead him to the truth. Another example is of the water that seems to drip from everywhere is his dreams and throughout his entire adventure through the movie. This is all showing that he is getting closer to the truth. Dolores drowned their children, so water shows what really happened instead of thinking that his wife died in a fire, the opposite of water. So fire and water are representative of the theme of exploring reality in that they are physically opposite and they represent the opposing sides between reality and fantasy. |