With The Fire On High By Elizabeth Acevedo

Piper Mangold Ms. Shin English 1 Honors A1 10 May, 2024 With the Fire on High Analisis

Change and development are essential to the growth of an individual. Without this crucial aspiration to better oneself, an individual can not improve. In the novel With the Fire on High, by Elizabeth Acevedo, Emani Santiago, the main character, is a teenager and teen mother living in Philadelphia, transitioning out of her senior year in high school and into the adult world. Throughout the book, she works at a burger restaurant, takes care of her daughter, supports her friends, enters a romantic relationship, and travels to Spain, all while pursuing her dreams of being a professional chef. By the end of the novel, Emani has changed: she has loosened her trust issues, affirmed her identity, and learned to be more

The daycare center called Mrs. Palmer, Emma’s paternal grandmother, who was resentful of her role. She drops Emma off at home to scold Emma, saying, “Well, I certainly won’t be dropping work every time you and your grandmother are too negligent to take care of Emma. I know you and Tyrone had an informal arrangement.but you best believe that if he ever chooses to challenge that arrangement in court, I will ensure this incident is put on the record”(Acevedo, 256). This scolding gives Emani a reality check, that if she continues to rely on Abuela to parent her daughter, she will be in less control of how her daughter is taken care of and raised. Although she cannot change anything at the moment, due to her busy schedule, the scolding brings awareness to her that the coordination must change. So, when making plans for college and her life in the future, she ensures she will become more independent by moving out of the house, and only going to college part-time, allowing Abuela to stop “putting [her] life on hold for [Emani]” (Acevedo 250). Emani’s willingness to take responsibility