Throughout the novel, fire symbolizes dramatic life changes and shifts in perspective; in some cases, it also represents the chance to begin again. The fire that Baker starts as a child arguably changes her life for the worse by initiating her into an outlook of penance for her disobedience and fueling her devotion to teach other women to obey society’s unwritten rules. After this early fire, Baker learned to feel ashamed of her disobedience and of the permanent scarring that was inflicted upon her by the flames. Her disfigurement cause her husband to reject her and seek the affections of another woman, and this trauma prompted her to take the job at Samarcand Manor, which gave her a way to transform her shame into something productive: the quest to prevent other women from being similarly wayward and thus subject to shame.

The fire at Samarcand ends Baker’s tenure there, but instead of pursuing new possibilities, she chooses more of the same by becoming the superintendent of the State Industrial Farm Colony. There, the fire that Frances starts is inspired by Stella’s description of the events that took place at Samarcand, and this disaster indicates that Baker, who has never moved on from her childhood shame, is doomed to repeat the same failures over and over again. However, instead of interpreting the fire this way, Baker chooses to blame Frances and uses the fire as an opportunity to escape to yet another similar position in a reform facility in Alabama, perpetuating her lifelong cycle. With each fire, Baker rejects the opportunity to reinvent herself and instead doubles down on her motives and her perceived life purpose, remaining shackled to the psychological wounds that compel her to “reform” other women.