Of Clothing and Hope - a LOST theory

LOST: Season 1, Episode 5: "White Rabbit" - an episode theory

"It's been six days and we're all still waiting. Waiting for someone to come. But what if they don't? We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning just going for a swim and he tried to save her, and now you're about to crucify him? We can't do this. Every man for himself is not going to work. It's time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we're going to survive here. Now, I found water. Fresh water, up in the valley. I'll take a group in at first light. If you don't wanna come then find another way to contribute. Last week most of us were strangers, but we're all here now. And god knows how long we're going to be here. But if we can't live together, we're going to die alone." Jack Shephard

If you watch the first few episodes of LOST closely, you will realize that the important characters, especially Jack, Kate, Sayid and Locke, all wear white shirts and clothes very often. However, this stopps after this episode. The reason that is most probably responsible for this is rather simple: in "White Rabbit", Jack finds the caves and the water to keep them alive and decides that it's time to leave the beach and live in a safer place. He also gives his "live together, die alone" speech at the end of the episode. 

At the same time, Locke starts to show how he was made for this island. 

The people on the island give up their hope of returning home in this episode. And this is symbolized by not wearing white anymore. This is not just true for those who leave the beach to live in the caves. No matter how resistant they act, even Sayid and Kate start to doubt. Where's Sayid's signal fire? And does Kate really stay at the beach because she believes they'll be saved? Or does she rather try to stay away from Jack because he doesn't react to her flirts? Because she never tries to find a solution of how to leave the island, she just goes with whoever has an idea.

So, the white clothes disappear as the hope of the stranded people does, too. But the importance of the white stuff itself can be seen in Christian wearing white sports shoes when Jack sees him and chases after him - and we all know that they are there for a reason.