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Episode 5
Introduction to Episode 5
Welcome back to ThinkTank Learning’s Book Club! My name is Carine, and I will be your host as we explore great literature together.
This is Episode 5 of our series, in which we are discussing chapters 14 and 15 of Celeste Ng’s award-winning novel Little Fires Everywhere. Before we begin, let’s refresh our memories about some of the important plot developments from our last episode.
Quick Summary of Episode 4
In our last episode, Mia arranged for there to be news coverage of Bebe’s attempts to get her baby back from the McCulloughs. As the story quickly takes off, a lawyer volunteers to represent Bebe in court, free of charge. The McCulloughs, on the other hand, turn to their family friend and lawyer, Mr. Richardson.
Mrs. Richardson realizes that Mia must have told Bebe about the baby’s whereabouts. She is furious at Mia for ruining the McCulloughs’ happiness. As a result, Mrs. Richardson decides to uncover all the secrets in Mia’s past. Through a handful of clues shared unwittingly by Izzy and Pearl, Mrs. Richardson locates the address of Mia’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wright. She visits the Wrights where she learns that they haven’t seen or spoken to Mia since their son passed away about 15 years ago. Mia was pregnant with a child for another couple. In other words, Mia was a surrogate mother.
As Mrs. Richardson is digging deeper into Mia’s past, her children are becoming involved in their own romantic dramas. Pearl has made a move on Trip, and the two of them are now in a secret relationship. Elsewhere, Lexie and her boyfriend Brian are continuing to sleep together, but they haven’t been careful. Indeed, Lexie finds out that she is pregnant. Although she wants to keep the baby, she soon realizes that it would be impossible. So, Lexie decides to have an abortion and Pearl accompanies her to the clinic to provide support.
The novel then has an extended flashback, wherein we learn more about Mia’s childhood and young adulthood. When Mia is twelve years old, she develops a passion for photography that her parents cannot understand. Her brother Warren encourages her while her neighbor mentors her. Against her parents’ wishes, Mia eventually decides to attend The New York School of Fine Arts on a full tuition scholarship. Working several part-time jobs, Mia is able to cover the remaining costs of her education. At college, Mia’s talent is quickly recognized by Pauline Hawthorne, her photography professor and a famous artist in her own right. Pauline becomes Mia’s mentor, pushing her to refine her photography skills and take artistic risks. Pauline and her partner Mal also become surrogate parents of sorts, offering Mia food, comfort, and advice.
One day, Mia meets Mr. Ryan, a wealthy stockbroker, who begs her to attend dinner with him and his wife. Mia is initially unsure, but her curiosity gets the best of her. At dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Ryan explain how they are unable to have children of their own, due to a health condition that Mrs. Ryan has. Since Mia looks so much like Mrs. Ryan, they want Mia to be a surrogate mother. They offer Mia $10,000 plus expenses covered if she will give birth to a healthy child for them. Mr. and Mrs. Ryan tell Mia to think about the offer. At first, Mia doesn’t want to accept the offer as it makes her uncomfortable. However, she soon learns that her full tuition scholarship has been cancelled due to state budget cuts. Mia is too proud to accept money from Pauline, and she is unable to work additional part-time jobs or find higher paying jobs. Thus, Mia realizes that she will not be able to continue her studies unless she finds enough money soon. Suddenly, the Ryans’ offer of $10,000 doesn’t look too bad anymore.
Chapter 14
Because Mia can no longer afford college, she considers the Ryans’ offer more seriously. The Ryans would pay her $10,000 for delivering a healthy child, and Mia calculates that this would pay for three semesters of college and buy her more time to save up for future semesters. Mia is very anxious about the decision, but she does not ask for advice from her parents, roommates, or Pauline and Mal. Rather, she goes about her decision alone.
First, Mia verifies, or makes certain, that the Ryans are who they say they are. She tracks down Mr. Ryan at his office and she follows Mrs. Ryan as she leaves her upscale apartment. Celeste Ng writes,
“...Mia could see it--there was a deep hunger in her eyes. She rushed to
open doors for [women pushing strollers], even the nannies pushing fair-skinned
children obviously not their own, holding the door open until woman and child
were well into the bodega or the cafe or the bakery before letting it wing slowly
shut after them with a wistful, almost mournful look...Mia had never noticed before how many babies there were: they were everywhere, the city was simply crawling with them, the streets swarming with unabashed fecundity, and she felt a deep pang of pity for Madeline Ryan. Madeline Ryan stopped at a flower stall, bought a bundle of peonies wrapped in green tissue, the buds still balled in tight hard fists” (Little Fires Everywhere, p. 219-220).
As Mia observes Mrs. Ryan, she feels immense pity for her. Finally, Mia agrees to help the Ryans to finance her own dream of becoming a photographer, although she tries to tells herself that she is primarily helping the Ryans out of compassion.
Mia gets the necessary doctor check-ups and takes a one-year leave of absence from college. After 4 months, much to everyone’s relief, Mia is pregnant. The Ryans do all they can to pamper her. They move her into their spare studio apartment and purchase expensive maternity clothes for her. During this time, Mia avoids her former coworkers and colleagues. She also gives an excuse to her parents to avoid going home for Christmas break. Nevertheless, Mia finds that she cannot keep such an important secret from her brother Warren. When Mia tells Warren about her arrangement with the Ryans, Warren becomes very upset, asking how she could ever bear to sell her own child. Warren adds that he is technically the child’s uncle. Mia is taken aback, since Warren has never been this angry at her before. The two siblings part on bad terms. Although Mia thinks of calling her brother several times once she is back in New York, she knows that they will just continue fighting over the issue. Early one morning, Mia receives a phone call from her mother who tells her that her brother has died in a car accident.
By now, Mia is heavily pregnant, but she makes the decision to fly home for her brother’s funeral. Her parents--Mr. and Mrs. Wright-- are extremely upset when they see her, especially when Mia tells them that the baby is not hers -- she is merely a surrogate for the Ryans. This details does not make her parents feel better. If anything, they think it is unnatural that Mia would sell her own child. Ashamed of their daughter, the Wrights request that she stay inside the house and not attend Warren’s funeral to avoid gossip. The night before Warren’s funeral, Mia packs her bags and takes the keys to Warren’s car. (Warren was driving his friend’s car when he died.)
Upon returning to New York, Mia writes a letter to the Ryans. Because she cannot bear to tell them that she wants to keep the child, she lies and says that she lost the baby and was too ashamed to tell them. Mia packs her bags, taking only what she herself bought. She leaves all the fancy maternity clothes behind, as well as money from her wages to pay for all the expenses of the medical appointments. Then, Mia gets into Warren’s car and starts driving. She keeps driving, stopping only to sleep, eat, and purchase supplies, until she reaches San Francisco. In San Francisco, Mia rents a room from a kind but rough-around-the-edges landlady. She sends a letter to Pauline and Mal, letting them know her new address. Soon, Mia gives birth to a baby girl. On the birth certificate, she leaves the father’s name blank and she changes her last name to “Warren,” in memory of her brother. After much thought, Mia names the child “Pearl”, after a character from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Mia reasons that, like the character in the novel, her daughter has been born into a difficult situation with a mother who is a societal outcast.
A few weeks later, Mia is contacted by Mal, Pauline’s partner. Mal lets her know that Pauline is rapidly dying of a brain tumor and that Mia should visit if she wants to see her one last time. Scraping together her savings, Mia purchases a plane ticket to New York and brings baby Pearl with her. Mal and Pauline coo over the child, and Pauline insists on taking a portrait of Mia and Pearl. As Mia and Pauline say goodbye for the last time, Pauline says that she is expecting great things from Mia.
Eleven days later, Mia receives a call saying that Pauline has passed away. Shortly thereafter, a package arrives in the mail. Inside are 8 of Pauline’s photographs of Mia and baby Pearl. Pauline has signed the back of each photo in order to verify that she was the photographer. In the enclosed letter, Pauline asks Mia to sell the photos if she ever needs money. In addition, she attaches a business card for an art seller in New York. Pauline writes that when Mia is ready, she should send her work to be sold at the gallery. She has already let the art seller know all about Mia.
Mia begins to take photographs around San Francisco with renewed passion and focus. She sends some of her photos to the art gallery, but the gallery owner tells her that she needs to keep practicing and take more risks. In order to buy enough photo film, Mia sells the first of Pauline’s portraits, earning enough money to support herself for two years. Mia starts her nomadic life with Pearl, driving wherever inspiration takes her and developing her skills as an artist.
Chapter 15
Back in the present, Mrs. Richardson continues to dig into Mia’s past. She uncovers many helpful facts, although nothing can truly give her perspective on the complexities of what Mia has actually lived through.
From Mia’s parents, Mrs. Richardson has learned the contact information for the Ryans’ lawyer. This is because the Ryans’ lawyer had called the Wrights shortly after Mia went missing. Mrs. Richardson is unable to get any further information from the lawyer without giving her identity away, so she contacts a college friend to help her. Mrs. Richardson’s friend is now an award-winning journalist for The New York Times. He discovers that the Ryans paid for several of Mia’s medical expenses around the time she would have been pregnant with Pearl.
As Mrs. Richardson learns these new details about Mia’s past, she is torn in her sympathies. Madeleine Ryan’s desperation for a child reminds her so much of her friend Linda McCullough’s desire to keep the baby left at the fire station. However, Mrs. Richardson cannot imagine ever having to give up her own child. To avoid thinking deeply about this moral dilemma, Mrs. Richardson tells herself that she would have made better choices so as to never be in Mia’s situation in the first place.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Richardson’s daughter, Lexie, has just had an abortion. Physically, mentally, and emotionally drained, Lexie cannot go straight back home as she originally planned. So, Pearl takes Lexie back to her house. Mia quickly pieces together the clues to realize that Lexie has had an abortion. Rather than judge Lexie, Mia takes care of her. She brings her food and prepares a quiet room for her to sleep in. She also arranges for Lexie to be excused from school, while Pearl tells the Richardsons that she has invited Lexie for a sleepover. Receiving such kindness, Lexie is very grateful. She is worried what Mia must think of her. However, Mia has a very different philosophy than Mrs. Richardson. Celeste Ng writes,
“But what if I chose wrong?” Lexie paused, closing her eyes, trying to feel that spark of life that she’d been so certain was cartwheeling inside her before. “Maybe I should have kept it…”
“Would you have been ready to be a good mother?” Mia asked. “The kind of mother you’d have wanted to be? The kind of mother a child deserves?” They say in silence for a few minutes, Mia’s hand warm on Lexie’s. Lexie felt an overwhelming urge to lean her head on Mia’s shoulder, and after a moment, she did. For the first time, she wondered what it would have been like to grow up as Pearl, to have Mia as her mother, to have this life as her life. The thought made her a bit dizzy.
“You’ll always be sad about this,” Mia said softly. “But it doesn’t mean you made the wrong choice. It’s just something that you have to carry…”
“But do you think I made the wrong choice?” Lexie persisted. She felt sure Mia would know.
Mia paused, one hand on the doorknob. “I don’t know, Lexie,” she said. “I think you’re the only one who can know that.” (Little Fires Everywhere, 244-245).
After waking up from a long nap, Lexie walks into the kitchen and overhears Mia talking to Bebe on the phone about the custody case. Lexie is vaguely familiar with the case as her father is representing the McCulloughs. Mia explains Bebe’s side of the case. She says that it comes down to whether people believe that Bebe--or really anyone who has made a mistake--deserves a second chance.
When Lexie leaves the Warrens’ house, she asks Mia if it would be good to tell her mother about the abortion. Again, Mia says that only Lexie can make that decision. Lexie says that she may tell her mother about the abortion one day but not now.
Character Song
As part of her writing process, Celeste Ng put together a playlist of contemporary music for each character in the novel. She carefully chose each song to match a particular character’s personality and tastes. So, to end this episode of ThinkTank Learning’s Book Club, we’ll play a bit of one song, and we’ll consider how it relates to that character.
Today, we’ll listen to a song for Pearl. It’s called “One Hand in My Pocket” by Alanis Morissette. The song was released in 1995, quickly becoming a number one hit on America’s prestigious record chart, The Billboard Hot 100 Celeste Ng explains why she chose this song for Pearl, saying, ““Ironic” might be the Alanis song that best represents the ’90s, but this has always been my favorite, and the most like Pearl: startlingly earnest, a bit confused and contradictory, still figuring it all out and doing the best she can.” Enjoy!
Wrap Up
Thank you for participating in ThinkTank Learning’s Book Club! I look forward to chatting with you in our next episode, when we’ll discuss chapters 16 and 17 of Little Fires Everywhere.
In the meantime, we invite you to share your responses to this episode’s reflection questions and pronunciation practice.
Optional Questions
First up is multiple choice. Do you remember the answer to these questions? You can find the answer in the episode.
1. Why does Pauline send Mia an envelope of 10 portraits?
a. Pauline wants Mia to sell the portraits if she needs money.
b. Pauline wants Mia to have something to remember her by.
c. Mia asked for the portraits at her last visit.
2. How does Mia feel when she learns about Lexie’s abortion?
a. Mia is reminded of a similarly tough decision she faced in college, so she gives Lexie lots of advice.
b. Mia tells Lexie to inform her parents immediately since they deserve to know.
c. Mia does not judge Lexie, but she provides comfort and support.
Now for an open-ended question:
Do you agree with Mia’s decision to keep Pearl instead of giving her to the Ryans? Why or why not?
Pronunciation Practice
Here is a passage with which to practice your English pronunciation. It was written by Celeste Ng.
“Now, as a teenager, Pearl’s caresses had become rare--a peck on the cheek, a one-armed, half-hearted hug--and all the more precious because of that. It was the way of things, Mia thought to herself, but how hard it was. The occasional embrace, a head leaned for just a moment on your shoulder, when what you really wanted more than anything was to press them to you and hold them so tight you fused together and could never be taken apart. It was like training yourself to live on the smell of an apple alone, when what you really wanted was to devour it, to sink your teeth into it and consume it, seeds, core, and all” (Little Fires Everywhere, 248-249)
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