Symbol of Prairie Fire (Fire)

The most influential symbol of the novel is of a prairie fire. After Bebe Chow officially lost her daughter to the McCullough's, Izzy Richardson had a deeply empathetic and emotional reaction. She reached out to Mia for support, and asked her how someone could "survive" the level of grief Bebe Chow must have been experiencing as a mother denied access to her own child. In response, Mia offered Izzy a personal analogy of a prairie fire she had witnessed in the past. Mia explained that a prairie fire destroys everything in its path, but it leaves behind the potential for new life: "Like a prairie fire...It seems like the end of the world. The earth is all scorched and black and everything green is gone. But after the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow...People are like that, too...They start over. They find a way." (295).