Quote symbolism for fire! Abie Epstein
Fire: Lust, desire, craving, repression, anger, pain, dangers of love, LOVE as a whole
Quotes:
1. Passion/lust/desire/sex
“because the drops that fell from the shower never made it to her body: they evaporated
before they reached her. Her body was giving off so much heat that the wooden walls
began to split and burst into flame. Terrified, she thought she would be burnt to death,
and she ran out of the little enclosure just as she was, completely naked.” (pg. 54)
This scene within the text can be interpreted to be symbolic of the passion, lust, and
desire which resides within Gertrudis. The fire symbolizes the “unsatisfied-ness” of
Gertrudis in the sense that she is craving sex. Since the craving is so strong the heat that
is given off by Gertrudis’ body is strong enough to start a fire. It can also be suggested
that because the daughters of Mama Elena are so suppressed, this is Gertrudis’ way of
fighting back. Creating the opportunity to have sex with whomever she wants, going
directly against what Mama Elena believes to be respectable, to satisfy the urge that has
been developed inside her through years of suppression by Mama Elena may be her way
of getting back at her mother.
“The aroma from Gertrudis’ body guided him. He got there just in time to find her racing
through the field. Then he knew why he’d been drawn there. This woman desperately
needed a man to quench the red-hot fire that was raging inside her.” (pg. 55)
This fire, inside Gertrudis, that is being quenched by Juan is definitely symbolic of sex
and lust. As it has become evident that the only daughter of Mama Elena’s that acts so
vibrantly in order to satisfy her cravings is Gertrudis the reader begins to realize that
maybe there is something the author isn’t telling us. Later in the novel we learn that, in
fact, Gertrudis is the daughter of a man who was Mama Elena’s love, not her husband.
So it is possible that this fire, that is so evident inside Gertrudis but not the other two
sisters, is symbolic of the love that Mama Elena and her lover had for each other, the
forbidden love. And since Gertrudis is a product of that love it is only natural that the fire
burning inside her, causing her to need sex, is stronger than that of any other sister or
family member.
“Tita timidly touched the hard muscles on Pedro’s arms and chest; lower down, she felt a
red-hot coal that throbbed through his clothes.” (pg. 98)
This heat used in this quote is full on lust and desire between Pedro and Tita. It becomes
obvious with this quote that the love between Tita and Pedro will never be overcome,
even if they do live in separate areas at this point of the story.
2. Power of love, love as a whole
“She worried that Gertrudis was cold, as cold as she was, but then she decided, no, she
wasn’t. Most likely she was near a fire, in the arms of her man, and that would surely
warm her. (pg. 59)
This quote symbolizes the power that love has over a woman. I chose to say over a
woman because in the novel, apart from Pedro, you never see the power that love can
have over a man. It is evident that this quote gives the idea of what Tita wishes to feel and
have with a man. I think that Tita is definitely jealous of Gertrudis because she gets to be
away from the ranch and evil Mama Elena, and be warmed by the man she loves rather
than always feeling cold and alone.
“All of a sudden she had a thought that made her run outside to look at the stars. Having
felt it with her own body, she knew she could start a fire. Even to set the sun itself ablaze.
What then would happen if Gertrudis looked up at a star? Surely the heat from her body,
which was inflamed by love, would travel with that gaze across an infinite distance, with
no loss of energy, until it landed on the star she was watching. Those huge stars have
lasted for millions of years by taking care never to absorb any of the fiery rays lovers all
over the world send up at them night after night. To avoid that, the star generates so much
heat inside itself that it shatters the rays into a thousand pieces. Any look it receives is
immediately repulsed, reflected back onto the earth, like a trick done with mirrors. That is
the reason stars shine so brightly at night.” (pg.60)
The first part of this quote consists of Tita saying that she has a large enough craving
inside her, just like Gertrudis, that she could start a fire. She is filled with so much lust
and desire that she is just like Gertrudis was the day she ran away. This is because Tita
feels so much lust towards Pedro and cannot be satisfied with anyone else. Again, this
quote addresses the power of love. This is a really big metaphor within the entire novel
and every time that fire is mentioned it seems that it is related back to how love can start
a fire and cause a star to shatter rays into thousands of tiny little pieces.
“Tita knew through her own flesh how fire transforms the elements, how a lump of corn
flour is changed into a tortilla, how a soul that hasn’t been warmed by the fire of love is
lifeless, like a useless ball of corn flour.” (pg. 67)
This quote is saying that through Tita’s own experience she knows that life without the
fire of love is like nothing, it is useless. This realization sets a really depressed tone to
Tita’s life in the novel because it makes the reader feel empathy towards her and Pedro.
Again the fire of love here symbolizes the power that love has; it can turn anything cold
warm and anything useless into something that holds such great importance. I think
that throughout this novel it is really emphasized that love can save anything. Gertrudis’
love for Juan and desire for something hot and steamy saves her from being completely
oppressed by her mother. Rosaura on the other hand is a more interesting character in
this sense. It is suggested, within the novel, that because Rosaura has no love she is bitter
and cold. Also with Mama Elena, she has so much resentment towards her two daughters
that have love in their lives but you never see her have a dispute with Rosaura, she even
leaves her house to her when she dies, when it is well known that Tita did so much more
work for Mama Elena. I think this also has to do with Mama Elena having her love taken
away from her when she was younger and maybe that got passed down to Rosaura,
leaving them both with no love at all. That could also be the reason Rosaura couldn’t
breastfeed her child...but that is a different discussion.
“My grandmother had a very interesting theory; she said that each of us is like a box of
matches inside us but we can’t strike them all by ourselves; just as in the experiment, we
need oxygen and a candle to help. In this case, the oxygen, for example, would come
from the breath of the person you love; the candle could be any kind of food, music,
caress word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches. For a
moment we are dazzled by an intense emotion. A pleasant warmth grows within us,
fading slowly as time goes by, until a new explosion comes along to revive it. Each
person has to discover what will set off those explosions in order to live, since the
combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul. That fire,
in short, is its food. If one doesn’t find out in time what will set off these explosions, the
box of matches dampens, and not a single match will ever be lighted.” (pg. 115)
All the symbolism for fire in this quote is symbolic of love. Without fire love cannot exist
at all. Just like without oxygen and a candle the experiment cannot take place. The fire
is the food for life. No one can live life to the fullest without love, or else they will end up
like Mama Elena or Rosaura, live life unpleasantly, have unpleasant relationships, and
die unpleasantly. You have to believe that love is important and you will have it. Also,
everyone needs someone else to love them in order to have that fire that keeps people
happy and keeps them alive, gives them something to live for. Maybe Rosaura and
Mama Elena die because they don’t have any love or anything to live for. In this novel
love is everything, everything centers around it…from food, relationships, to survival.
This quote describes the way that love in a relationship works, and if it is real love when
it is running low another match can be lit to revive it and to nourish the soul once more.
It also suggests that there is one person, and only one person, that can light another’s
matches and without that person the matches will never be lit.
3. Anger, pain
“The water was so hot that Mama Elena burned her feet when she got it, Tita had
forgotten the aloe water for her hair, burned the bottom of Mama Elena’s chemise,
opened the door too far, and finally got Mama Elena’s attention the hard way and was
scolded and sent from the bathroom.” (pg. 95)
In this quote heat is used differently, instead of suggesting that it is symbolic of lust and
desire it symbolizes something that can inflict pain when no dealt with properly. I have to
say that, that is definitely one of the characteristics of love. The water in this quote was
so hot and the heat of the water caused Mama Elena to be burnt. This is actually really
interesting because it shows that the author uses heat in every way but still relates it back
to something that can symbolize love. It is also interesting that the reason Tita made
mistakes with her mothers bath, for the first time may I add, was because Roberto, her
nephew, died. This is extremely depressing for Tita because she loved Roberto with all
her heart and having him die made her loose a lot of hope for the things she had left.
4. Repression
“That’s why it is important to keep your distance from people who have frigid breath.
Just their presence can put out the most intense fire, with results we’re familiar with.” (pg.
116)
The person with frigid breath, in this quote, can be symbolized in two completely different
ways. The main one I think being Mama Elena and how she ruins every love, lust, desire
moment that Tita has by repressing it. She puts out some very intense fires inside Tita,
with her repression of Tita’s freedom, to the point where Tita goes a little bit crazy. The
other being Pedro, he is the only man that can light Tita’s matches, therefore without
Pedro there is no fire.
5. Dangers of love
“You must of course take care to light the matches one at a time. If a powerful emotion
should ignite them all at once they would produce a splendor so dazzling that it would
illuminate far beyond what we can normally see; and then a brilliant tunnel would appear
before our eyes, revealing the path we forgot the moment we were born, and summoning
us to regain the divine origin we had lost. The soul ever longs to return to the place from
which it came, leaving the body lifeless….” (pg. 117)
This quote is extremely important to the novel because it is exactly what happens at the
end when Tita and Pedro have sex for the last time. All of Tita’s and Pedro’s matches are
lit all at once and Pedro goes towards the light and dies and then Tita soon follows. I
think it is also important because it is completely symbolic of Tita’s and Pedro’s love. It
is so strong that is can conquer life itself, because when they are together they produce
an emotion that is more powerful than anything you can experience during life and it is
worth dying for. I think that this is what the author tries to portray throughout the entire
novel, that when you have a love stronger than life it is worth dying for because it is the
most powerful thing in the world. But also, on the other hand, you have to be careful
because it can be dangerous, and if not taken care of properly, can leave you alone and
wishing you never had it in the first place.
“Unfortunately, she had to admit that her own matches were damp and moldy. No one
would ever be able to light another one again. And the saddest thing was that she knew
what set off her explosions, but each time she had managed to light a match, it had
persistently been blown out” (pg. 116)
In this quote it is shown to the readers that Tita is afraid that without Pedro she will
never feel love and never be loved and be alone forever. I think that because of this fear
Tita is more drawn to the doctor and so her feelings for him are somewhat fake because
they are generated off of her own loneliness. When the quote talks about Tita knowing
who lit her matches but every time it happened they were put out, she is referring to all
the situations with Pedro where Mama Elena came in and ruined them.