Little Fires Everywhere is a thrilling book written by Celeste Ng. Celeste’s story revolves around two primary families, the Warrens and the Richardsons. The Warrens are poor, while the Richardsons are an influential family in Shaker Heights, a planned community where residents are identified by their social status. When the Warrens move to the community, Pearl Warren becomes friends with the Richardsons, particularly the eldest daughter Lexie Richardson setting various themes on relationships, sexuality, teenage pregnancy, motherhood, parenting and privileges. The themes set the events that led to the fire after Elizabeth Richardson discovers Lexie’s secret and her superficial family, making her burn the house to establish a new beginning. This essay explores the dynamic character change of Lexie from a privileged society girl to a dependent teenager who realizes the superficiality of her life after making an unavoidable mistake.
Lexie is the eldest daughter of four siblings in the Richardsons family. She is a teenager from a privileged family and acts as a spoiled child with privileges due to her family background. The character is superficial and idealistic about life, manipulating others to do her bidding. When she meets Pearl, she recognizes her vulnerability to material things which she lacks due to her family background. Therefore, she manipulates Pearl by giving her favors to ensure she sticks by her side, bidding to her wishes. Lexie uses Pearl’s name in the clinic during an abortion, stating, “my mom knows the director here. And you know—my dad’s been in the news… I didn’t want them to recognize my name (Ng, 129).” She further tells Pearl that “It’s just a name,” meaning she did not matter in their society and using her name had no consequences. Thus, it would be better if Pearl is associated with the act regardless of her feelings.
Lexie becomes pregnant and experiences challenges in decision-making. As an idealistic character, she wanted a perfect life and fantasized about finishing school, getting married to the love of her life and having children to create a happy family. Her dreams are shattered by teenage pregnancy, leaving her wondering about her life and future. Lexie realizes she lacks genuine friends with whom she can confide about her situation since they are all superficial. She decides to get help from the Warrens since Mia is an understanding parent and Pearl’s friendship towards her is genuine. Lexie undergoes an abortion, and the aftereffects are harsh, but the Warrens help her through the difficult times.
Lexie’s experience changes her character to a realistic and empathetic person. She faces the reality of the situation and understands that the Warrens can help her despite being in a lower social class than her. When she reaches Pearl’s house after the abortion, she cries in Mia’s arms despite her initial reaction regarding Pearl’s mother as non-existent. Lexie asks Pearl, “You think she likes me now?” referring to Mia, making her desperate to win Mia’s affection (Ng, 174). She questions her decisions and feels more empathetic to others’ situations, such as Bebe Chow. She asks Mia, “Is she? An unfit mother, I mean”, referring to Bebe, whom she despised before for abandoning her child (Ng, 176). Instead, she now empathizes Bebe wanting to get her side of the story which may relate to her loss.
The character change demonstrates how life presents unexpected situations which create a turning point in one’s life. Despite Lexie’s arrogance and idealistic nature, she has to face reality and understand that life is not ideal regardless of social status and privileges. Societal and family pressure significantly influenced Lexie’s decision, leading to her losing her child. Thus, the author tries to communicate the dangers of pressuring children to be perfect and imparting them idealistic notions in the real world. At the same time, the character change shows that change is inevitable if one desires to a moral and normal life.
Work Cited
Ng, Celeste. Little Fires Everywhere. Thorpe, Isis, 2021.