Wildwood

In “Wildwood,” fire represents rage, destruction, and re-emergence. The word “fire” and words that allude to it are used throughout the text. “Heat,” “smoky,” “pitch,” “burning,” “war,” “hell,” and “boiling” all serve as reminders of the current running through the coming-of-age story. Lola learns from her aunt that her mother was beaten and set on fire, burned alive while she still lived in the Dominican Republic. She bears a huge scar, which Lola takes notice of while in the bathroom feeling for the knot in her mother’s breast. The experience leaves Belicia with a burning rage that permeates everything, including her relationship with her daughter. When Lola burns Belicia’s wig over the gas stove, her mother is triggered, almost afraid, and begs Lola not to do it. Lola does, and the wig goes “up in a flash, like gasoline, like a stupid hope, and if I hadn’t thrown it in the sink it would have taken my hand” (Paragraph 18). This exchange instigates the first time Lola physically fights back against her mother’s strikes, and she remarks that doing so makes her feel like “the fire.” Anger is a consistent emotion throughout the story, and fire acts as a symbol for rage that lasts generations.