Fire Symbol Analysis

Fire represents the world’s tendency towards self-destruction. The Fire Chief laments that there have been so few fires lately: his job depends on them, so he takes it as a sign of a weak economy. This is a moment of absurdist humor, but Mary takes a more bracing view of fire in the poem she recites, entitled “The Fire.” In it, she names one thing after another catching fire: a stone, a castle, a forest, men and women, the sky, and finally fire itself (“The fire caught fire / Everything caught fire / Caught fire, caught fire”). This paradoxical final image of fire catching fire offers a vision of absolute destruction. Her poem recital, coupled with the Fire Chief’s departure, ignites a metaphorical fire in the drama: the remaining characters begin yapping like madmen, as their language and their sanity itself seem to go up in flames. The already unsteady world of the play consumes itself, like a fire catching fire.