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The Symbol Of Fire In Jeanette Of The Fire

Decent Essays

Fire is a prominent motif in the novel because it is seen by the family wherever they go. It starts with their house in Arizona, when Jeanette accidentally set herself on fire while cooking hotdogs. She survived the encounter, but had some serious burns across her right arm. However, in her young age, Jeanette had a fascination with fire after the incident. That changed one night in a hotel in San Francisco, after lighting matches then flushing it, when the curtains in her room had suddenly burst into flames. This taught her to have a bit more respect for the fire. Also, one Christmas, all the kids and their mother had saved up a lot of money to buy gifts and a Christmas tree. However, when their father opened up his cigarette lighter, which was a gift for him, he set the tree on fire, which in turn set the other presents underneath it ablaze. Jeanette’s father is a man that is extremely smart in science and math, and an amazing storyteller, however he drinks/smokes way too much and can be very abusive. Her mother is a religious and tough woman, who could live with basically any situation and will go through with something until it is done. Jeanette’s tone to her parents, however, is not of happiness, but instead sadness, because of the father’s behaviors, and her mother’s stubbornness to stay with him. The tone towards their actions from Jeanette is dismay, because for almost all of their actions, both her mother and father don’t think about the consequences before they

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