Little Fires Everywhere Quotes

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Do you ever wonder what happens when your life doesn't exactly live up to your picture perfect world? In the novel Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, a mother and daughter pair named Mia and Pearl move to a town called Shaker Heights. While they are there, they meet the Richardsons, a family that aims to live a perfect life; however, friendships and rivalry lead to imperfection. The author uses verbal irony, point of view, and mood to create a theme that being ideal and perfect is not always the best way of life. Celeste Ng uses verbal irony to show that most think Shaker Heights is perfect, but it isn't. In regards to Shaker Heights, they live off of perfecting and keeping their lives simplistic. “Perfection: that was the goal, and perhaps the Shakers had lived it so strongly it had seeped into the soil itself, feeding those who grew up there with a propensity to overachieve and a deep intolerance for flaws.” (Ng 23). This quote describes how perfection wasn't only a goal but a way of life for shaker heights' citizens and this is problematic because their sense of overachievement and flawlessness pushes the characters to do things that …show more content…

The use of point of view is showing Izzy's perspective of her life that she has hated for a while. “In her mind she cataloged the many betrayals. Lexie had lied; she’d used Pearl. Trip had taken advantage of her. Moody had betrayed her, on purpose. Her father was a baby stealer. And her mother: well, her mother had been at the root of it all.” (Ng 322). In this quote, the use of third person omniscient portrays how Izzy now realizes everything that is wrong with her family. She comes to terms with how her family isn't all that perfect, but how everyone thinks they are. Furthermore, Izzy wishes she could just live with Mia because of how warm and welcoming she was to her siblings even though they always insult and mock her