Nothing to See Here

The fire that erupts from Bessie, Roland, and eventually Timothy is very literal, but at the same time it is full of metaphorical meaning. The children burst into flames when they experience extreme emotions, therefore making the fires symbolic of the way uncontrollable emotions can blaze through all of us. The destructive power of their fires points particularly to the explosive power of children’s rage. Like parents struggling to quell a temper tantrum, Wilson’s characters are often rendered helpless once the children start to catch on fire. The fires are also a defensive tactic to safeguard the children when they are feeling their most vulnerable: They make themselves physically untouchable to counteract their feelings of emotional vulnerability.

Although Jasper insists the fires are a genetic trait from their mother’s side of the family, it ultimately becomes clear they inherited the trait from their father’s side. Lillian likens the trait to an indelible stain on the family from their historical misdeeds. Although the Roberts family views their prominence in Tennessee with pride, Lillian suggests that this “shameful” trait is karmic punishment for the Roberts family’s involvement with slavery. More broadly, the fact that the trait originates in Jasper’s line is an indictment of his hypocrisy: The fires represent everything he and his family keep under wraps—Jasper’s philandering, Madison’s possible queerness, etc.—to project a “wholesome,” politically advantageous image.

Lastly, the fires represent difference, otherness, and even “weirdness.” The strangeness of the children’s “condition” is part of what initially draws Lillian, another misfit, to them. Nevertheless, it is something Roland and (in particular) Bessie must learn to embrace; the prospect of not fitting in is initially deeply embarrassing to them. The scene in which they respond to Timothy’s combustion with exuberant fires of their own signals this self-acceptance.