Like a House on Fire Essay Questions

In "Like a House on Fire," how does Kennedy reframe a common idiom?

When two people are described as "getting on like a house on fire," it means that they got along immediately and without issue. The idiom refers to the rapid manner in which flames spread through a house. Ironically, the idiom refers to something positive, while the figurative referent is decidedly negative, i.e., no one wants their house to catch fire. The narrator of the story, and by extension, Cate Kennedy, pushes into this irony. As his wife prepares to go to her overnight shift at the hospital, barely concealing her resentment for the narrator, the narrator says:

Listening to the two of us, you'd never believe that we used to get on like a house on fire, that even after we had the kids, occasionally we'd stay up late, just talking. But now that I think of it, a house on fire is a perfect description for what what seems to be happening now: these flickering small resentments licking their way up into the wall cavities; this faint, acrid smell of smoke. (86)

Then later on, in their tender moment on Christmas morning, the narrator offers their marriage a bit of redemption. He refers to the idiom by way of the flame imagery, saying, "this is how you do it, ... stick by careful stick over the ashes, oxygen and fuel, a controlled burn" (92). Here, Kennedy essentially exposes the idiom for perpetuating a shallow, unsustainable standard to which healthy relationships are held. If a relationship is a fire, Kennedy proposes, it shouldn't have to blaze uncontrolled for its entire duration.

In "Ashes," why is it ironic that Chris has grown to be a secretive man?

In remembering his father, Chris thinks of him as "a secretive man." Kennedy writes, "the irony is not lost on him that he has that insight because he has become one himself" (26). This whole line of thinking occurs to Chris as he remembers his last moments with his father, in the hospital. His father essentially tells him to do what he has to do, i.e., to be a gay man (as if he has a choice in the matter), but not to tell his mother. Chris feels that his important relationships, namely his relationship with Scott, have ended because he hasn't been able to be open about his sexuality. And while his secrecy is, in part, to protect himself from the criticisms of his mother, he's also following a directive from his father to "protect" his mother. His father tells him that "it would kill her" (26) to learn he's gay. So the cycle of resentment continues, and Chris's relationships fail because his partners feel like he's keeping them a secret, and then he resents his mother more for it, and all the while, he keeps doing it to protect her from the truth.

Explain how the narrator's perspective changes regarding her job in "Laminex and Mirrors."

The narrator of "Laminex and Mirrors" frequently reminds the reader, in the first half of the story, that her days on the cleaning staff are numbered. She's counting down the weeks, and every time she's reprimanded, like when the nurse takes her aside and criticizes her for having a conversation with Mr. Moreton, she reminds herself that none of it really matters, because the job is just a means to an end. She tries to convince herself, and the reader, that none of the emotions of the job can stick to her. She says things like, "six more weeks, ... and I’ll be cashed up and out of here" (42) and "at the end of the summer holidays I will have saved enough for three months in Europe, where I will walk the streets of Paris and London, absorbing culture and life and fraternising with whoever I like" (39). But by the end of the story, we know that none of this is true. The emotional moments of the job do matter to her, and in fact, they're really all that matter, not just in the context of the job, but in terms of her life overall. As she describes wheeling Mr. Moreton back to his room, post-bath and -cigarette, she says, "this moment is the one I remember most clearly from the year I turned eighteen, the two of us content, just for this perfect moment, to believe we can go on humming, and that this path before us will stretch on forever" (56).

In "Five-Dollar Family," what is the symbolic significance of colostrum?

Colostrum is a nutrient-rich fluid produced by the mammary glands prior to regular milk production, and in "Five-Dollar Family," the midwives express the importance of feeding the baby adequate amounts of colostrum. One tells Michelle, "this is the most important meal of your baby's life" (95), referring to colostrum. Toward the end of the story, Kennedy describes the photographer taking the second photograph: "Michelle can feel it—this will be the one she'll choose. She'll put it in a frame, up on the shelf next to the cards and miniature teddies. Make some copies for her aunties. The feeling sealed, at least, like evidence; a feeling that appears out of nowhere, thick and sweet and full of mysterious antibodies" (112). This reference is to colostrum as well. Kennedy's analogy sheds light on how colostrum is regarded as a symbol in the story of something intangible and mysterious, fleeting, like the feeling behind a photograph, encapsulated in a physical form.

In "Sleepers," how do Ray's circumstances parallel those of his town?

Ray feels stalled, professionally and personally, while his body keeps aging, leaving his sense of self in the dust, baffled by the physical symptoms of a combination of what seems to be depression and neglecting personal wellbeing. Ray feels both defiant of and powerless against the ravages of time. He feels disregarded by his ex, Sharon, and feels entitled to better treatment or a better lot in life. Ray is feeling all of this while the town around him is being transformed by corporate developers. The developers rolled in and disrupted the town's ecosystem, jamming up the roads and creating eyesores in every direction. They've failed to hire any locals, and now, instead of allowing people to help themselves to the old railroad sleepers for firewood or landscaping, they've cordoned them off and plan to sell them. So, the town acts defiantly. They take sleepers for themselves. They variously disguise themselves or sneak onto the site late at night, and then brag about the spoils of their defiance. But ultimately, the scrap wood is a small prize in exchange for autonomy and agency. Ray's arrest reinforces the town's powerlessness against the "progress" of capitalism.