English Essay: Little Fires Everywhere

English Essay
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English Essay
Little fires everywhere is a second book written by Celeste Ng in Shaker Heights, Ohio. The book describes the 1990s where two families lived together, whereby their relationship grew through their children. The description of the hometown creates a deep connection with them due to the vivid things written about them. The book is a profound psychological mystery that captures the power of motherhood, depicts how intense teenage love can be, and the dangers that may arise from perfectionism. Everything in the town is systematically planned, which is made possible by the rules followed by residents. It ends when Small fires are lit in the Richardson home, which is suspected to be Arson in 1998 (Ng, 2017). The year before, Richardson had rented out his house across town to Mia Warren. Mia is a single mother of a teenage daughter Pearl and is also an artist. Richardson’s son Moody begins a relationship almost immediately. It results in both families being close, especially when Mia is hired as a housekeeper and a cook by Mrs. Richardson, whose name is Elena. Unfortunately, this does not last as differences between Mia and Elena divide the two families in the most unimaginable ways.
In the novel, racial tensions are central in the plotline that revolves around the custody battle between a white couple who had adopted and raised a Chinese child from an immigrant mother. In the novel, Ng raises the question of whether assimilation is good, and it should be feared. The adoption scene makes the readers answer the question of what exactly constitutes a family. The narrator states, "it came over and over… down to this…what made someone a mother…is it biology or love?" Family is another theme that is discussed in the novel. This theme is illustrated on the scene when the white couple is fighting for the custody of the child ad the case of Pearl Warren, a daughter and a mother who vanished shortly after the fire.
The novel powerfully depicts the strength of motherhood and how far a mother is willing to sacrifice to protect her child. The issue begins when Linda McCullough, who is Elena's friend, wants to adopt a Chinese baby that was abandoned at the fire station. The child was abandoned by Bebe Chow, who is Mia's coworker at a Chinese restaurant due to postpartum depression. Mia begins to help her get her daughter back through involving the local news, which she succeeds (Ng, 2017). Elena is, however, not happy with it when she realizes that the baby’s mother is Mia’s friend. She takes it as a betrayal from her tenant and seeks to figure out Mia's life and her secrets. Court trial leads to Bebe losing the case but ends up sneaking into the family and kidnapping her daughter and later flees to Canton.
Additionally, motherhood is also expressed in Mia and Pearl's story, whereby M...