





































Education, Language and Sociology Research 

ISSN 2690-3644 (Print) ISSN 2690-3652 (Online) 

Vol. 6, No. 1, 2025 

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1 
 

Original Paper 

Out of the Marginality: The Pursuit of Female Community in 

Little Fires Everywhere 

Wen Su1 

1 School of English Studies, Xi’an International Studies University, Xi’an, China 

 

Received: December 9, 2024   Accepted: December 20, 2024    Online Published: January 2, 2025 

doi:10.22158/elsr.v6n1p1          URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v6n1p1 

 

Abstract 

Celeste Ng, also called Wu Qishi, is a new generation of American female writer. While inheriting the 

traditional writing on culture and identity exploration, she expands her vision to other minority groups 

in society. Little Fires Everywhere is her most representative work since the publication of Everything I 

Never Told You. The novel unfolds through two story lines, presenting three marginal women, and they 

are from different background. This paper integrates the discourse on the marginal man and the theory 

of community to analyze the predicament of the three marginal women and its underlying causes. It 

reveals that the author provides a solution for women transcend their marginalized status by 

establishing a female community. The female community aims at subverting gender, class and social 

oppression, taking female friendship as spiritual bonds, and Shaker Heights as the space for 

coexistence, which provides a useful field for marginal women to break through their predicament and 

find a sense of belonging. 

Keywords 

marginal women, female community, female bonding, Little Fires Everywhere 

 

1. Introduction 

Born in 1980, Celeste Ng is a new generation of American female author. Her first novel Everything I 

Never Told You (2014), won multiple awards upon its initial publication. In 2017, Celeste Ng released 

her new novel, Little Fires Everywhere, which was immediately awarded the status of Book of the Year 

on 27 occasions. Through her persistent writing, Celeste Ng expresses her concern and profound 

thinking about social problems and human condition. Little Fires Everywhere takes the acquaintance 

between Mia, her daughter Pearl with the family of Mr. Richardson as the main story line, and the 

immigrant woman Bebe’s custody battle with the McCulloughs as a subplot. It tells the stories of four 

families in Shaker Heights, presenting a portrait of a group of female images. Mia, an artist who 



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pursues freedom and independence, has been living “on the road” with her daughter Pearl. And when 

they arrive in Shaker Heights, they decide to end their wanderings and stay in this place. Their 

landlords, the Richardsons, are exemplary residents in Shaker Heights, living a secure and dignified life 

in a large, luxurious house. However, Mia’s freedom and unconventional lifestyle gradually affects the 

Richardson children, especially the two daughters, who admire Mia for her ability to be true to herself 

and pursue purity and freedom, unlike the so-called “role models” in the neighbourhood. However, Mrs 

Richardson, in order to uphold the rules of Shaker Highland and personal feelings, uses her position to 

dig up Mia’s privacy and drive her and her daughters away in the end. Later, Izzy, the Richardsons’ 

youngest daughter, sets fire to the house and leaves to follow Mia and her daughter. At the same time, 

an unmarried immigrant woman, Bebe, gives birth to a female infant, Mirabelle. Due to the reality of 

her inability to raise her, she has no alternative but to abandon her daughter by placing her in front of a 

fire station. The girl is adopted by an American couple, the McCulloughs, and subsequently Bebe 

regrets her decision and engages in a custody battle with the couple for her daughter in a foreign land. 

 

2. Literary Review 

The novel has been analyzed from a number of perspectives, including those of identity, 

mother-daughter relationships, and class. For example, Hector, an American critic, highlights in the 

New York Times that Celeste Ng explores a complex life story in Little Fires Everywhere, discussing in 

depth the issue of identity and choice. Similarly, Carlos has suggested that Celeste Ng’s novel is akin to 

a complex spider’s web linking gender, motherhood and class privilege. The initial phase of domestic 

research on this novel commenced in 2018. Among them, Sheng Yuanyuan investigates the 

protagonist’s identity construction from the perspective of mirror theory (Sheng, 2021); Furthermore, 

some researchers have examined the novel from the trauma and postcolonial perspectives, such as Ai 

Mingjing, who explores the source of the protagonist’s trauma and its restoration from the trauma 

perspective (Ai, 2023); Du Xingyu analyzes the decolonization writing in the novel from the 

perspective of discipline and resistance (Du, 2023). With the discourse about the Marginal man and 

theories about community, this paper tries to analyze the marginal dilemma of women in the novel, and 

explores the author’s attempt to help female group out the predicament by constructing a female 

community. 

 

3. The Marginal Plight and Causes 

The novel portrays a group of female characters belonging to four distinct families. It illustrates how 

marginality is a pervasive phenomenon among many of the female characters, who are marginalized 

within their respective societies and families, and isolated from the mainstream social center. The 

concept of the “marginal man” can be traced back to the German sociologist Georg Simmel’s 

interpretation of the concept of the ‘stranger’. Simmel posits that people from different cultural groups 

are strangers to each other, and that the stranger is a cultural outsider who is close to us in physical 



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space but culturally, socially and emotionally distant (Simmel, p. 109). In his seminal work, Kurt 

Lewin, a German psychologist, identified the psychological characteristics of the marginal person from 

a psychological perspective. He proposes that the marginal person is one who participates incompletely 

in both social groups, occupying a position that is in-between the two groups (Lewin, p. 307). In the 

early twentieth century, American sociologist R.E. Park shifts his attention to the marginalized, 

examining their experiences through the perspective of migration. In his book, he posits that 

marginalized individuals often occupy a liminal space, straddling two cultural traditions that are 

simultaneously distinct and intertwined (Park, p. 881). Subsequently, Stonequist broadens and develops 

the concept of “marginalized men”. Stonequist posits that interracial migration is merely one way 

through which an individual may experience marginalization. He asserts that a multitude of factors, 

including cultural beliefs, gender, and psychological factors, contribute to marginalization to varying 

degrees (Stonequist, p. 5). With the continuous development of the theory of “marginalized men”, 

research on marginalized groups has become more diversified, and the concept of marginalized people 

has gradually shown a tendency to be generalized. Those who exhibit psychological, cultural, and 

gender differences from the mainstream of society can be collectively designated as “marginal people” 

or individuals with marginal personality traits. 

3.1 Mia: A Marginalized Mother in Society 

The protagonist, Mia, leads a nomadic existence with her daughter, lacking both a fixed abode and a 

stable source of income. As a result, she becomes marginalized within both the social and familial 

structures that surround her. Marginality runs through Mia’s growth and life. Mia developed an affinity 

for photography at the age of eleven, and since then has pursued a dedicated course of study in the field. 

However, her parents did not acknowledge or encourage her interest, perceiving it as an unprofessional 

pursuit. Consequently, she was compelled to pursue her passion independently. Mia funded her studies 

at the New York Academy of Art independently. Following the birth of her daughter Pearl, she opted 

not to pursue a conventional path as a single mother, instead embarking on a nomadic journey with her 

daughter. Upon completion of a set of works, Mia would embark once more with her daughter in search 

of the subsequent location offering shelter. Such a lifestyle, characterized by brief periods of residence 

in different locations, is the norm for Mia and her daughter. But such lifestyle is intolerable to both 

Mia’s family and the society dedicated to constructing rules. “Marginality is an objective existence, 

moreover, a subjective existence, which depends on the subjective response of different marginalized 

people to marginality in different contexts” (Zhao, p. 117). Mia’s marginality is characterized by a 

greater degree of autonomous choice. When mainstream society is unable to accept an individual’s 

lifestyle and values, the individual may seek to defend their way of life by moving away from the 

center and retreating to the margins. Mia has chosen to defend her life by escaping from the 

mainstream.  

 

 



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3.2 Izzy: A Marginalized Daughter in the Family 

If Mia’s marginality is tinged with subjective choice, then Izzy’s marginality is the result of the 

distorted family environment and mother-daughter relationship. As the youngest daughter of the 

Richardson family, Izzy has a stable and decent living environment like her other siblings, yet she does 

not have the self-confidence that is found in her older sister Lexie, nor does she have the attractiveness 

that is shown by her older brother Trip. She is perceived as the most anomalous and divergent member 

of the family. The book commences with a scene depicting a smoke-filled fire at the Richards residence. 

Izzy becomes the natural target of suspicion, and is subsequently identified as the perpetrator of the 

crime, despite the lack of definitive evidence. To outsiders, she is already a bit crazy; when the fire 

breaks out, Mrs Richards panics and goes to look for each of the children, except for Izzy, “It struck her 

that she had not looked for Izzy, as if she had known already that Izzy was to blame” (Elaine Ng, p. 2). 

“Crazy” and “lunatic” are what the other family members’ description about Izzy, and Izzy’s 

unconventional behavior is the result of the family’s neglection of her personality and individuality. 

Izzy grows up with a rebellious spirit that is not tolerated by the rule-bound Richardsons, and Izzy’s 

unusual behaviour is suppressed and her individuality is not allowed to flourish. The distortion of the 

mother-daughter relationship is also a major reason why Izzy teeters on the fringes of the family, and 

Mrs Richardson is excessively strict with Izzy to the point of anxiety. “The rush of anxiety, the fear that 

permeated her thoughts of Izzy. The microscopic focus on each thing Izzy did, turning it this way and 

that, scrutinizing it for signs of weakness or disaster” (p. 84). Izzy, characterized by an inherent 

propensity for nonconformity, had a strong aversion to being constrained. This inclination led her 

to consistently interpret her mother ’s actions as deliberately challenging, which she attributed to a 

perceived animosity on her mother ’s part. “The sense all the children had-including Izzy-was that she 

was a particular disappointment to their mother, that for reasons unclear to them, their mother resented 

her” (p. 85). Consequently, in the family life, Izzy’s expression and emotional response are overlooked. 

She had developed a tendency that entails maintaining a physical and emotional distance from family 

members and disengaging from the central activities of family life, which serves as a means for her to 

exercise autonomy and asserts her individuality. 

3.3 Bebe: A Marginalized Immigrant in America 

Bebe, a female immigrant residing in America, experienced abandonment by her boyfriend following 

the birth of their child. Bebe suffered both physical and mental torment. As a solitary immigrant in a 

foreign land, Bebe confronts linguistic barriers that restrict her employment opportunities to a local 

restaurant. Despite her efforts, the modest income she derives from this work is insufficient to cover her 

living expense. Meanwhile, faced with the fact that her boyfriend abandoned her, she suffered from 

post-natal depression after giving birth to her daughter, which led her to the idea of giving her daughter 

away. She drops her daughter off in front of the fire station and is later taken in by the McCulloughs. 

However, the ties of blood prevents her from giving up his daughter, so Bebe is left alone in a foreign 

country to fight with a white couple for the custody of her daughter. As a single woman, Bebe’s 



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personal situation mirrors the life experience of immigrants in America in the 19th century, and 

marginalization is the real situation of many people in a foreign land. As a woman who lacks life skills, 

Bebe can only find hope in life through her own efforts. 

 

4. Solution: The Construction of Female Community 

Confronted with the reality of women’s marginalization, the author explores ways for women to 

overcome their challenges and derive strength from the establishment of female community. The study 

of community is currently a hot and prominent topic of academic research, yet there remains 

considerable debate and no consensus has been reached. The earliest known discussion of the concept 

can be traced back to the ancient Greek period, when Aristotle regarded the city-state as a form of 

community, in which the members of the city-state work together for a common goal. In the eighteenth 

century, Hegel advanced the concept of family, citizen, and state communities. Marx posited that the 

true form of human community is the association of free men, which he believed to be the optimal 

means of meeting human needs. Ferdinand Tönnies posits that a community is a group of people who 

live together, share common values and an emotional orientation, and can be further categorized into 

three types: communities of blood, communities of place and communities of spirit (Tönnies, p. 268). 

Raymond Williams posits that the term “community” denotes a shared care between groups of people, 

formed at the relational and emotional levels (Williams, p. 215). He Weihua, a domestic scholar, posits 

that a community is a group of individuals residing in the same geographical area who share common 

habits, interests, and culture. This shared identity fosters a sense of belonging and enables harmonious 

coexistence and mutual assistance. (He, p. 7). Based on the above traceability of the concept of 

“community”, there is a commonality among different discourse: that is, the emphasis on mutual 

assistance and care between individuals and collectives and members of the society. Additionally, 

members of society are unified by shared goals and the construction of community is realized through 

the coexisting living space, which is shaped by the ties of blood, emotions or beliefs.  

The concept of community is further emphasized within the context of female communities, whereby 

the common experiences and emotional encounters among women encourage them to provide mutual 

support and comfort. This results in the formation of a female community, characterized by a unique 

sense of sisterhood among women. In Little Fires Everywhere, three women from marginalized 

situation share their experiences and emotions, provide each other with assistance and support, and 

draw strength from the female community in order to find a way out of their own predicament. 

4.1 Common Goals: Subverting Gender, Glass and Social Oppression 

Tönnies argues that a community is constituted by the existence of a consensus among its members - a 

perfect unity of human will. This consensus may be separate from each member’s individual will, yet it 

maintains a state of unity through its own will, combining in an organic way. The subversion of gender, 

class and social oppression is a consensus among women, forming a common goal and a unifying 

factor within the female community. The patriarchal society constrains women’ capabilities and 



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accentuated their deficiencies. Mia plays a significant role in assisting Izzy and Bebe in their 

awakening as the female community is established. In contrast to Mrs. Richardson, who leads a 

conventional lifestyle, Mia exemplifies the potential for contemporary women’s life, as reflected in her 

own experiences. Mrs Richardson relinquishes her career in deference to her familial responsibilities, a 

factor that renders her inherently resistant to Mia’s influence. Mia demonstrates in her own actions a 

way of life that is free from other people’s dependence, independent and free. 

Mrs Richardson is also a woman, but she epitomizes the patriarchal system in a capitalist society. She 

displays a lack of affection towards her youngest daughter, Izzy, due to her belief that girls should 

pursue a life of peace and quiet, characterized by practicality and discipline, in accordance with the 

norms of the middle class. This belief is the underlying cause of her animosity towards Mia and Bebe. 

Nevertheless, this successful middle-class life is made feasible by many capable, ambitious women 

who relinquished their dreams and aspirations to men, giving up their title rights and egos to support 

their husbands and educate their children. “Wherever human beings are united in an organic way by 

their will and consensus, there exists a community” (Tönnies, p. 132), and the sense of superiority 

demonstrated by Mrs Richardson is rendered void in the case of Mia and Bebe. This is because a decent 

and lavish middle-class life is not the sole aspiration of all, and even her own young daughter acts in 

opposition to the gender and class consciousness conveyed by her family. 

Following the loss of her daughter, Bebe is encouraged by Mia and Izzy to demonstrate fortitude and 

utilize the tenets of justice to defend her rights. Bebe is no longer isolated in her endeavour to regain 

custody of her daughter; instead, she is supported by the reliable friendship and assistance of Mia and 

Izzy. The three women from different backgrounds show that women can help each other with love and 

friendship regardless of class and background. The members of female community in Little Fires 

Everywhere are united in their opposition to patriarchal, class and social authority, and their challenge 

to the Richardsons and the McCulloughs.  

The female characters establish a harmonious relationship founded on principles of equality and mutual 

support, united in their pursuit of a common objective. Furthermore, the word “fire” is employed as a 

recurring image in the novel, beginning with the ongoing fire at Richard’s house, echoed in the 

epilogue, and separated by a title. Confronting the confused Izzy, Mia tells her, “About the prairie fires? 

About how sometimes you need to scorch everything to the ground and start over? (p. 242), the fire in 

Mia’s heart provides her with the motivation to challenge the dominant social and cultural norms and to 

pursue a life of her own. while the fire in Izzy’s heart serves as a source of strength, enabling her to 

break free from the oppressive influence of her family. Furthermore, the fire in Bebe’s heart represents 

her resilience and determination to fight against discrimination and prejudice in a foreign country. The 

metaphor of fire is used to illustrate the potential for transformation and emancipation. It is suggested 

that the burning down of oppression, resistance against patriarchy, class can be achieved through the 

use of this metaphorical weapon. The three women are presented as the embodiment of this 

transformative force. 



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4.2 Emotional Ties: Female Bonding 

Hooks, an American scholar, asserts that radical postmodernism highlights shared emotions that 

transcend class, gender, and race. These emotions, in turn, become a fertile ground for the construction 

of empathy, which can serve as a basis for solidarity and alliance (Hooks, p. 89). The emotional 

cohesion of the female community in Little Fires Everywhere is evident in the mutual support and 

empowerment between Mia and Izzy, as well as between Bebe and Izzy. Izzy is a rebellious figure who 

was born and raised in the conservative and rule-bound community of Shaker Heights. Upon meeting 

Mia for the first time, Izzy experiences a sense of attraction towards her, perceiving her as an outsider 

within the Richardson family. Izzy, who has been suspended from school for contradicting her teacher, 

encounters Mia, who is employed at her house. Upon seeing Izzy, who appears despondent, Mia does 

not inquire about the cause, but instead prepares a sandwich for her. She perceives Mia’s benevolence 

and unwavering amicability, not as pity, but as a distinct contrast to the opinions held by others. Izzy 

gradually reveals to Mia the rationale behind her contradictory response to her teacher. Mia 

understands and affirms Izzy, a reply she has not previously conceived, and if Mrs Richardson had 

learned of the course of events, instead of understanding her, she would have blamed her recklessness 

and feared her outburst. 

The development of emotional resonance in women is a consequence of the convergence of shared 

physiological processes and experiences, which give rise to a similar range of realizations. In the 

presence of Mia, Izzy experiences a sense of warmth and affirmation, which, as she perceives it, 

constitutes implicit permission to engage in activities that had previously been denied to her, and “In 

those words she heard a permission to do what she’s always been told not to: to take matters into her 

own hands, to make trouble” (p. 62). Subsequently, Izzy experiences a sense of unity with Mia, 

perceiving them as unique and rebellious individuals with an underlying inclination towards 

destruction. 

At the same time, Mia sees in Izzy younger herself and the desire to rebel, “She reminded Mia, oddly, 

of herself at around that age, traipsing through the neighborhood, climbing over fences and walls in 

search of the right photograph, defiantly spending her mother’s money on film” (p. 68). After this, 

Izzy’s demeanor shifts from that of a reclusive adolescent to one of a young girl brimming with 

enthusiasm for life, whose passion is ignited by her admiration for Mia, “When it was just the two of 

them, it was easy for Izzy to pretend that Mia was her mother, that the bedroom down the hallway was 

hers, and that when night fell she would go into it and sleep and wake in the morning” (p. 70). The 

sharing of female emotional experiences and female experiences serves to unite female friendships. 

The creation of a shared emotional structure facilitates emotional harmony among the members of the 

community, engendering a sense of warmth and strengthening the community. Mia, who is also a single 

mother, is better able to appreciate the experiences and emotions of other mothers when she befriends 

Bebe. Mia and Bebe meet due to their concurrent employment at the same restaurant. Mia becomes 

Bebe’s most reliable listener, and their shared experiences as women and mothers foster a sense of 



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empathy and understanding between them. Upon discovering the whereabouts of Bebe’s daughter, Mia 

decides to tell Bebe. Despite the vast differences in language and social customs between them, the 

white women and the immigrant women unknowingly gain emotional identification with each other in 

the face of the crisis. This emotion facilitates the rise of sisterhood among them. “The idea that 

someone might take a mother’s child away: it horrified her. It was as if someone had slid a blade into 

her and with one quick twist hollowed her out, leaving nothing inside but a cold rush of air” (p. 93). 

Mia provided unwavering support to Bebe throughout the custody proceedings, demonstrating 

unconditional solidarity and commitment.  

The shared marginalization causes Izzy to stand up for Bebe when she is in trouble. When the 

Richardsons support the McCullough couple in their battle for custody of the baby girl, Izzy openly 

defies them based on the sense of shared female identity, “They’re practically kidnapping her. And 

everyone’s just letting them. Daddy’s even helping” (p. 104), Izzy witnesses Bebe’s pain after the loss 

of her daughter, and sympathized with her suffering. Different women gain strength from each other 

and stimulate their sense of power and collective empowerment, thus helping to build a closer unity, 

which has become an important basis for female groups to resist patriarchy and even racism. 

4.3 Co-existing Space: Shaker Heights 

The Shaker Heights in the book is the product of the integration of Eastern and Western cultures, and it 

is known as the “Looking down upon the grimy city of Cleveland from a mountaintop at the end of a 

rainbow’s arch” (p. 17). The maintenance of a community depends on the identity and belonging in the 

hearts of its members (He, p. 8). Shaker Heights is a place full of rules and order. The local government 

has a strict and unified plan for urban planning, from the color of the house appearance to the 

classification and placement of garbage, there are unified requirements. At the same time, local 

residents also work together to maintain the order of Shaker Heights. 

At the same time, it shows an open attitude, demonstrating tolerance and acceptance towards the advent 

of new members, and affording them the same degree of care and protection. Despite their status as 

mere tenants in Shaker Heights, Mia and her daughter are able to enjoy the full benefits associated with 

that of local residents. The acceptance of Mia and her daughter in the Shaker Heights represents a 

preference for inclusiveness, and provides a suitable living space for the ongoing operation of the 

female community. (Jia, p. 98). Furthermore, the concept of a strict but inclusive community exists in 

Shaker Heights. The local school accommodates students of different background, and as Lexie says, 

“Look at me and Brian. We’ve been together since junior year and no one gives a crap that I’m white 

and he’s black” (p. 33). Mia and her daughter quickly adapt to the local way of life and come to accept 

themselves as an integral part of the Shaker Heights community.  

Similarly, Shaker Heights provides an inclusive living space for immigrants, and Bebe works in a local 

restaurant in Shaker Heights and gets to know Mia, and a rental house in Shaker Heights has become a 

field for three women to share their feelings with each other, “Instead of sequestering herself in her 

bedroom with her violin, she would walk the mile and a half to the house on Winslow right after school, 



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where Mia would be hard at work” (p. 69). Izzy takes the rental house as her home, where she feels the 

warmth brought by Mia. Similarly, when Bebe encounters challenges and transitions in life, she 

consistently contemplates seeking assistance and support at Mia’s residence. Shaker Heights serves as a 

model of inclusive community, provides a space for three women to help each other. 

 

5. Conclusion 

The author juxtaposes three female images in the same space, revealing the survival predicament 

inherent to the female individuals. The author attempts to offer a solution to the marginal dilemma 

faced by women by establishing a female community that seeks to challenge the oppression 

experienced by women on the basis of their gender, class and race. This community is based on the idea 

of female friendship as an emotional bond and the place of Shaker Heights as a space for coexistence. 

Through the female community, women living in marginality can gain a sense of belonging and 

survival, thus providing impetus for getting rid of their own difficulties and striving to walk out of the 

predicament. At the same time, the author abandons the focus of binary opposition in traditional 

immigrant writing, advocates the community concept of inclusiveness and mutual assistance, 

presenting a new paradigm and more possibilities of immigrant writing in the new era. 

 

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