What they present-especially those she leaves behind for each member of the Richardson family-are a particularly idiosyncratic form of metaphysical self-portraiture.

Her images are truly a work of art, requiring intricate hands-on multimedia presentations. Mia is a photographer, but not merely of the point and click variety. The Richardson kids are addicted to Springer’s demonstration of uncontrolled humanity appearing under topics like “I’m Having Your Husband’s Baby!” in a way that transforms the show from mere spectacle into a symbol of the unplanned, uncontrolled, and disordered universe outside the boundaries of Shaker Heights. The novel is set in the 1990’s when the collapse of certain censorship restrictions and the wholesale change of afternoon television programming from rerun-based to talk-show dense brought something into family living rooms never seen before: a daily parade of the world’s worst in humanity struggling to top the degradation aired the day before. More specifically, The Jerry Springer Show. Pearl was named by her single-mother Mia after Hester Prynne’s illegitimate child in The Scarlet Letter while the Chinese foundling a white Shaker Heights family want to adopt undergoes a particularly extreme form of Anglicized name change: May Ling Chow becomes Mirabelle McCullough.

Her rebellious daughter Isabelle Marie, on the other hand, has adopted a name typically associated with males: Izzy. Elena Richardson is the personification of the adherence to rules and order in the Heights and as a result is almost always addressed as Mrs. Names becomes highly symbolic in the novel as insight into how the ideological philosophy of the rules of Shaker Heights infiltrate the consciousness of its citizens. It’s meant metaphorically, of course, but, hey, Izzy plays by Izzy’s rules. This image is certified as symbolic when Mia later explains how it is representative of the fact that sometimes change requires burning everything down and completely starting over from scratch. In time, however, the green would not only return, but the entire prairie would become more fertile and new growth make the results of the fire impossible even to imagine. At one point, Mia tells Izzy about a time in Nebraska when she witnessed the devastating effects of a prairie fire which left everything scorched and turned every last inch of green black. Mia becomes an enormous influence upon the already rebellious Izzy, primarily in the form of directing and channeling that energy. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

Books like little fires everywhere