Identity and Belonging (Family, Race, Class, and Community)

Celeste Ng uses the setting and the characters of an affluent American neighborhood to highlight how the concepts of family, race, class, and community- or, how we identify ourselves and with whom- affect an individual's sense of purpose and place. Therefore, the central theme in the novel, Little Fires Everywhere, is of identity and belonging. An individual's identity is made up of who they are, while an individual's sense of belonging is defined by where they fit in. An identity and a sense of belonging go hand in hand. How an individual develops that sense of self is both a personal and social process involving the relationships they make with themselves, their families, their friends, their communities, and within their cultural environments. Thus, it makes sense as to why the primary literary elements used within the novel are character...