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Episode 4（n. 插曲；一段情节；插话；有趣的事件）
Introduction to Episode 4
Welcome back to ThinkTank Learning’s Book Club! My name is Carine, and I will be your host as we explore great literature together.
This is Episode 4 of our series, in which we are reading and discussing Celeste Ng’s award-winning novel, Little Fires Everywhere. Before we begin, let’s refresh our memories about some of the important plot developments from Chapters 7 through 9 of the novel.
Quick Summary of Episode 3
In our last episode, Mia starts another part-time job, where she cooks and cleans for the Richardsons. Mia only accepted this job so that she could learn more about the family’s influence on her daughter Pearl. As Mia cleans, she begins to learn more about each member of the Richardson family. For instance, she learns that Trip fails some of his math tests, Moody tries to write songs, and Lexie enjoys reading Charles Dickens novels. One day, Mia meets the youngest Richardson child, a freshman named Izzy. Unlike the rest of her family, Izzy is bold and rebellious（adj. 反抗的；造反的；难控制的）. Izzy explains that she was suspended from school because she challenged Mrs. Peters, a mean teacher who was picking on a very shy student. Mia asks what Izzy is going to do about it, which inspires Izzy to take action and to seek out Mia as a mentor（n. 指导者，良师益友）.
Soon, Izzy comes up with the perfect plan for taking revenge on Mrs. Peters and all the other adults at school who passively（adv. 被动地；顺从地；消极地） allow bullying to happen. Izzy persuades Moody and Pearl to help her jam all the doors at school with toothpicks. In the chaos that follows, classes are delayed, students party in the hallways, and Mrs. Peters humiliatingly（adv. humiliating的变形） pees in her pants. Izzy’s anonymous prank is so successful that it is remembered as “Toothpick Day” for years to come.
One day, Pearl and Moody visit an art museum for a class field trip. Both teenagers are startled to see a large photograph of Mia and baby Pearl hanging on the wall. The photo is by the famous photographer Pauline Hawthorne. After returning to view the photo with Izzy and Lexie, Pearl confronts Mia as she is cooking at the Richardson home. Mia refuses to answer any of Pearl’s questions, especially with the Richardson children watching. Izzy is determined to learn more, and she later asks her mother, who writes for the town newspaper, to do some research. Mrs. Richardson and Izzy have a strained relationship, in part because Izzy had a difficult birth, which made Mrs. Richardson realize that her perfect life could be easily disrupted. Mrs. Richardson looks into the question halfheartedly（adv. 不认真地；无兴趣地） but gets quickly sidetracked.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Richardson’s childhood friend, Linda McCullough, throws a party to celebrate her adoption of a Chinese baby abandoned at a fire station. Although the baby had a note saying that her name was “May Ling Chow”, the McCulloughs have renamed her “Mirabelle.” Izzy asks uncomfortable questions about the fairness of renaming the child. In contrast, Lexie fawns over the child and cannot stop talking about her. Later on, Lexie excitedly tells Mia all about the baby. Mia thinks she knows who the mother is, but she doesn’t tell Lexie. Mia feels that the bond between mother and child is very important. She calls Bebe Chow, a young woman who works at the Chinese restaurant with her, to let her know that her baby has been found. Bebe is desperate to find her daughter after having left her at the fire station in a moment of desperation. The conflict over the baby sets off one of the main plot arcs in the novel.
Chapter 10
A day after Mia’s phone call, Bebe arrives at the Warren’s duplex in tears. Earlier, Bebe had tried calling the McCulloughs so that she could get her baby back, but each time, they hung up the phone. Bebe decides to go to the McCulloughs’ house and knock on the door. Linda McCullough peeks out of the upstairs window, but she refuses to open the door. Eventually the police come and escort Bebe off the property. Bebe is traumatized（adj. 心理受到创伤的） and at a loss, so she turns to Mia for help. Pearl has been listening to the whole conversation, and she suggests that Bebe get a lawyer to help her fight for her child in court. However, Bebe sadly says that she does not have enough money to hire a lawyer. Mia confidently says that she has a plan for Bebe to fight for her child.
The next day, a local TV news crew arrives at the McCullough house to investigate（v. 调查；研究） a story about a mother trying to get her child back. The TV crew has already interviewed Bebe and is very sympathetic to her. Soon, the story is receiving lots of attention on the news. Linda McCullough is frantic, so she turns to her friend, Mrs. Elena Richardson, for advice. Linda is in tears. She has desperately wanted a baby, but she has endured years of miscarriages and has become increasingly saddened and bitter. Celeste Ng writes,
Adoption was their best choice for a baby. They’d put their names on every
waiting list they could find, and from time to time an adoption agent would call with a possible match. But something always fell through: the mother changed her mind; a father or a cousin or a grandmother showed up out of the blue; the agency decided another, often younger couple was a better fit. A year passed, then two, then three. Everyone, it seemed, wanted a baby, and demand far exceeded supply. That January morning, when the social worker had called to say that she’d gotten their name from one of the adoption agencies, that she had a baby who was their if they wanted her: it had felt like a miracle. If they wanted her! All that pain, all tat guilt, those seven little ghosts--for Mrs. McCullough never forgot a single one--had, to her amazement, packed themselves into a box and whisked themselves away at the sight of baby Mirabelle: so concrete, so vivid, so inescapably（adv. 逃不掉地） present. Now, at the thought that Mirabelle might be taken as well, Mrs. McCullough realized that the box and its contents had never disappeared, that they had simply been stored away, waiting for someone to open the lid.
Elena Richardson assures Linda that the law is on her side. She explains that since the biological mother abandoned the baby at the fire station, she effectively gave up her custody rights to the state.The state then gave the custody rights to the McCulloughs. Everything is fair, Elena says, and if there is to be a court case, it is between Bebe Chow and the state. Nevertheless, media attention is intensifying. There are now several camera crews in front of the McCulloughs’ house everyday. There are supporters on both sides. Some people call the baby “Mirabelle McCullough” and believe that she will have a better, more comfortable life with the wealthy McCulloughs. Other people call the baby “May Ling Chow” and believe that the baby should stay with her birth mother and grow up in her own culture. Soon, a local lawyer named Ed Lim offers to represent Bebe Chow in court, free of charge. Mia’s plan has worked, and now Bebe can sue the state to regain custody of her child.
With this news, Linda McCullough turns to Elena Richardson again. Elena’s husband will represent the McCullough’s in court. This news angers Izzy, who remembers seeing Bebe at Mia’s house one day, and who feels more loyalty to Mia than her own family. The next day, while reading a newspaper article about the case, Mrs. Richardson learns that Bebe was told of her daughter’s whereabouts（n. 下落；行踪；去向；所在之处 adv. 在何处；靠近什么地方） by a coworker at the restaurant. Mrs. Richardson pieces together these clues to determine that Mia Warren was the one who caused all of the trouble. In a wave of cold fury, Mrs. Richardson decides to investigate（v. 调查；研究） Mia Warren’s mysterious past. Although Mrs. Richardson tells herself that this is to protect her friend Linda McCullough, she also has selfish reasons. Mrs. Richardson feels angered and threatened by Mia’s disregard for the rules and for what other people think of her -- the very things by which Mrs. Richardson carefully orders her life.
Chapter 11
Mrs. Elena Richardson puts her journalism skills to use in order to investigate Mia Warren and her secrets. First, Elena follows up on the lead she received from her daughter Izzy. The museum photograph of Mia and baby Pearl was taken by the famous photographer Pauline Hawthorne. So, Mrs. Richardson looks up Pauline Hawthorne, who taught advanced photography at the New York School of Fine Arts and died in 1982. On a hunch, Mrs. Richardson contacts the school to see if Mia Warren was ever enrolled（v. 登记入会；卷） in Pauline Hawthorne’s class, around 1980 or 1981. The school lets Mrs. Richardson know that there wasn’t a Mia Warren--but there was a Mia Wright during that time. At that point, Mrs. Richardson hits a dead end because the school will not give her an address. Mrs. Richardson decides to tackle the problem from a different angle.
In mid-December, Lexie receives an acceptance letter to Yale. To celebrate, Mrs. Richardson invites Lexie, Izzy, and Pearl to have brunch at a restaurant of Lexie’s choice. Izzy is not that excited about spending the afternoon with her family, but Pearl is surprised at Mrs. Richardson’s kindness. Mrs. Richardson has other motives though. During brunch, she smoothly asks Pearl some innocent-sounding questions about her upbringing. Where has she lived? Where is her mother from? Pearl actually doesn’t know much about Mia’s past. However, Mrs. Richardson learns that Pearl was born in San Francisco. This is enough of a clue to follow up on. Later, Mrs. Richardson gets a copy of Pearl’s birth certificate. The mother is listed as Mia Warren, born in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The line for the father’s name is blank. Using the Bethel Park information, Mrs. Richardson tracks down the address of Mia’s parents. She also learns that Mia had a younger brother who died in an accident when he was a senior in high school. Mrs. Richardson is determined to make the trip to Bethel Park, Pennsylvania to visit Mia’s parents and learn more about her.
Meanwhile, the whole community of Shaker Heights is still divided over the case of baby May Ling or Mirabelle. Supporters of the McCulloughs say that the Linda truly loves the baby and that she does not see a white baby or a Chinese baby, but just a baby to love. Bebe’s supporters say that this is precisely the problem. They argue that the baby needs to grow up knowing her Chinese culture, something the McCulloughs will never be able to provide her with despite their best efforts. Finally, others point to the issue of wealth. The McCulloughs are clearly much wealthier than Bebe, and would be able to provide the baby with a big house, yard, and more than enough toys and luxuries.
With help from her lawyer, Ed Lim, Bebe has obtained visitation rights for her baby. She can see her baby in a public place with a chaperone（n. 女伴；行为监督 vt. 伴护 vi. 当女伴；当行为监护人）for two hours each week. The McCulloughs will keep the baby for the time being. Both Bebe and Linda McCullough are unhappy about this arrangement. Both Bebe and Linda feel suspicious of the other woman and bitter over having to give up the baby for some period of time.
Mrs. Richardson tries to calmly support Linda during this upheaval, but deep down she becomes angrier and angrier at Mia for putting her friend in this position and upending the perfect world of Shaker Heights. Celeste Ng writes,
All her life, she had learned that passion, like fire, was a dangerous thing.
It so easily went out of control. It scaled walls and jumped over trenches. Sparks leapt like fleas and spread as rapidly; a breeze could carry embers（n. 余烬；余火；小火苗） for miles. Better to control that spark and pass it carefully from one generation to the next, like an Olympic torch. Or, perhaps, to tend it carefully like an eternal flame: a reminder of light and goodness that would never--could never--set anything ablaze. Carefully controlled. Domesticated（adj. 家养的；驯服的；喜欢家庭生活的）. Happy in captivity. The key, she thought, was to avoid conflagration（n. 大火；快速燃烧；突发；冲突）.
This philosophy had carried her through life and, she had always felt, had served her well. Of course she’d had to give up a few things here and there. But...surely that was worth the trade. Rules existed for a reason: if you followed them, you would succeed; if you didn’t, you might burn the world to the ground.
And yet here was Mia…[d]ragging her fatherless child from place to place, scraping by on menial jobs, justifying it by insisting to herself--by insisting to everyone--she was making Art. Probing other people’s business with her grimy hands. Stirring up trouble. Heedlessly（adv. 掉以轻心地；不加注意地） throwing sparks. Mrs. Richardson seethed, and deep inside her, the hot speck of fury that had been carefully banked within her burst into flame. Mia did whatever she wanted, Mrs. Richardson thought, and what would result? Heartbreak for her oldest friend. Chaos for everyone. You can’t just do what you want, she thought. Why should Mia get to, when no one else did?
With these thoughts in mind, Mrs. Richardson is determined to uncover all of Mia’s secrets--a decision that will have irreversible（adj. 不可逆的；不能取消的；不能翻转的） consequences.
Chapter 12
It is now mid-February, and Pearl has slowly been gaining confidence in herself. One day, she goes to the Richardsons’ house and discovers that Trip is the only one there. Instead of shyly leaving, Pearl decides to stay and flirt with trip. She helps Trip with his math homework, which leads to a kiss and then sex.
The next day, Pearl tries to act normal, especially around her mother and Moody. She doesn’t quite know how her relationship with Trip has changed. The day after that, Trip meets her at her locker, and they make an arrangement to meet in the rec room of his friend’s basement. Trip and Pearl sleep together again, and both promise to keep their relationship a secret so as not to upset their families, especially Moody who is in love with Pearl.
Meanwhile, Lexie and her boyfriend Brian have been sleeping together frequently and they have not been very careful. One day, Lexie takes a pregnancy（n. 怀孕；丰富，多产；意义深长） test and learns that she is pregnant. At first, Lexie hopes she can keep the baby. She has always wanted to marry Brian and start a family, so she reasons that they are just moving a little faster than planned. She thinks she could take a semester off college, marry Brian, and rent a little house together. However, when she tries to bring up the topic of babies with Brian, he becomes alarmed and strongly rejects any notion of having a child. Lexie tries to downplay the situation, saying she was just imagining what-if and that there really isn’t a baby. Yet she now knows that she cannot keep the baby and will have to get an abortion.
Mrs. Richardson visits Pittsburgh for a few days to follow up on a story (but really to question Mia’s parents.) Lexie takes advantage of this situation by having Pearl take her to the abortion clinic. Since Mrs. Richardson is well-known in the community, Lexie uses Pearl’s name to sign up for the appointment. Pearl is initially （adv. 最初，首先；开头）upset, but she gives in when Lexie says that no one will ever know it’s her. Then, the nurse comes to get Lexie. Celeste Ng writes,
Lexie stood slowly, like a person in a dream. For a moment they stood there,
each clasping an end of the clipboard（n. 剪贴板；附有纸夹的笔记板）, and Pearl was sure she could feel Lexie’s heart pounding all the way down her fingertips and into the wood of the clipboard’s back.
“Good luck,” she said softly to Lexie. Lexie nodded and took the forms, but at the doorway stopped to look back, as if to make sure Pearl were still there. The look in her eyes said: Please. Please, I don’t know what I’m doing. Please, be here when I get back. Pearl fought the urge to run up and take her hand, to follow her down the hallway, as if they really were sisters, the kind of girls who would see each other through this kind of ordeal, the kind of girls who, years laters, would hold each other’s hands during childbirth. The kind of girls unfazed by each other’s nakedness and pain, who had nothing in particular to hide from one another.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Elena Richardson has just arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Wright, Mia’s parents. Mrs. Richardson introduces herself as a journalist who is doing a story on talented teen athletes（n. 运动员；身强体健的人） who died before they could make it big. The Wrights tell her all about Warren. When Mrs. Richardson asks to speak to Warren’s sister, the Wrights let her know that they haven’t spoken with Mia since Warren died about 15 years ago. The Wrights explain that the last time they saw Mia, she was pregnant. Mia was carrying a child for a wealthy couple who could not get pregnant on their own. Mrs. Richardson is shocked, and senses that she is on to something big.
Chapter 13
In this chapter, we get insight into Mia’s secretive past. Mia grew up in Bethels Park, Pennsylvania, a working-class community. Her father is a handyman, who fixes things for people, while her mother is a nurse at the local hospital. When Mia is two years old, her brother Warren is born. Both Mia and Warren are very close, with Mia proudly acting almost as a surrogate（n. 代理；代用品；遗嘱检验法官 adj. 代理的；替代的 vt. 代理；指定某人为自己的代理人）
mother to him. When Warren develops a strong interest in sports and spends more time practicing, twelve-year-old Mia discovers a new hobby of her own: photography. At first, Mia uses an old Brownie Starflex camera that she buys from a thrift shop. The camera does not have many features, as it is primarily designed for amateurs who want to take pictures on vacation. However, Mia spends all her time experimenting in order to develop her own special effects. In effect, Mia is teaching herself how to become a photographer. Soon, Mia finds a mentor in her neighbor, Mr. Wilkinson. Mrs. Wilkinson is a retired toy buyer whose hobby is photography. He asks to see her photographs, and he is very impressed by Mia’s natural artistic sense. As they discuss photography techniques and the limitations of Mia’s Brownie Starflex, Mr. Wilkinson offers to lend Mia his old Nikon F camera. This camera has many more features—such as lens adjustment--that allow Mia to control her photographs better. As Mia takes even more photographs, she begins to learn more about photography techniques from Mr. Wilkinson and his vast library of reference materials（参考物质）. Eventually, Mia starts to ask questions that even Mr. Wilkinson doesn’t know the answer too.
By the time Mia is fifteen, she has saved all her earnings from various part-time jobs to purchase her own camera second-hand, a Graphic View II. Her parents are perplexed that Mia seems to be wasting all of her money on photography. Indeed, her mother is frustrated that Mia spends her allowance for new school clothes on photography film. In contrast, Warren is impressed by Mia’s creativity and talent. While he does not want to hear the technical details behind Mia’s photos, he does appreciate her pictures. Mia’s only mentor is Mr. Wilkinson, but he moves away to a retirement home after his wife passes away.
In 1979, Mia is a senior in high school and has applied to the New York School of Fine Arts, where she hopes to study photography. Mia has not told her parents since they will disapprove and have refused to pay for her art studies. So, when Mia receives a full tuition（n. 学费；讲授） scholarship to the New York School of Fine Arts, she tells her parents and lets them know that she can cover her full college education by taking a part-time job. Her parents are not happy, but their threat of not paying for college no longer has any impact on Mia. When Mia is about to leave, her brother Warren touchingly offers her the money he has been saving up to purchase a car. Mia gently refuses, and she tells him to buy the car and pick her up from the bus stop when she visits home.
In New York, Mia works several part-time jobs before and after classes to pay for her expenses. Her upbringing（n. 教养；养育；抚育） has given her a strong work ethic and many practical skills. Mia believes everything is worth it. Her favorite class is photography, taught by the famous photographer Pauline Hawthorne. Pauline is quickly impressed by Mia’s natural talent and takes Mia under her wing. Pauline invites Mia to her apartment, where they talk about photography and Pauline encourages her to take a more intentional approach to her craft. Celeste Ng writes,
By the time winter came, Mia would bring her newest photographs to show
Pauline nearly every week, and they would talk them over, Pauline pressing her to articulate what she’d done and why. Before, Mia had taken photographs by feel, relying on instinct to tell her what was right and what was wrong. Pauline challenged her to be intentional, to plan her work, to make a statement in each photograph, no matter how straightforward the photo might seem. “Nothing is an accident,” Pauline would say, again and again. It was her favorite mantra, Mia had learned, in both photography and in real life. In Pauline and Mal’s house, nothing was simple. In her parents’ house, things had been good or bad, right or wrong, useful or wasteful. There had been nothing in between. Here, she found, everything had nuance; everything had an unrevealed side or unexplored depths. Everything was worth looking at more closely.
Aware of the sacrifices that Mia must make to pay for college, Pauline and Mal become surrogate parents to Mia, offering her advice, comfort, and extra portions of food to take home. By now, people know that Mia is immensely talented. On a visit home, Mia shows Warren her latest photos, and he exclaims that she will become famous one day.
One day, while riding home on the subway, Mia notices that a stranger is staring at her intently. He is dressed neatly, like a Wall Street businessperson. Afraid that he might be a mugger or predator, Mia tries to lose him by switching trains, but the man follows her. He introduces himself as Joseph Ryan, and he does indeed work on Wall Street. Mr. Ryan has noticed that Mia looks very much like his wife Madeleine. Mr. and Mrs. Ryan have been married for nine years, and they have been unable to have children. He asks Mia to consider carrying their child for them. He gives her a business card and invites her to dinner with his wife to learn more about their proposal.
At first, Mia is unsure about going to meet the Ryans, but she is curious and in need of a good meal. So, Mia shows up at the restaurant. There, she meets Madeleine, who looks so much like her that the two women could indeed be sisters. The Ryans explain why they are approaching Mia. Mrs. Ryan has a medical condition that prevents her from getting pregnant. The Ryans do not want to try the new scientific method of in vitro fertilization（n. [农] 施肥；[胚] 受精；肥沃） either. Therefore, the Ryans offer to pay Mia $10,000 if she will carry a healthy baby for them, with all medical expenses included. Mia promises to think about the offer, but she already thinks that the idea is “insane.” Mia cannot imagine “renting out her womb” and giving up her own flesh and blood. However, a few weeks later, Mia receives a letter from the school. Due to state budget cuts, she has lost her tuition scholarship. Mia quickly realizes that she cannot afford to pay for college. She does not have time to work yet another part-time job, and she is unable to get higher-paying jobs either. Even working full-time over the summer will not help her manage the bills. Pauline and Mal are upset at this turn of events, but they are unable to help Mia. As a result, Mia is left with a difficult decision that forces her to consider the Ryans’ proposal more seriously.
Character Song
As part of her writing process, Celeste Ng put together a playlist of contemporary（n. 同时代的人；同时期的东西 adj. 当代的；同时代的；属于同一时期的） music for each character in the novel. She carefully chose each song to match a particular character’s personality and tastes. So, to end this episode of ThinkTank Learning’s Book Club, we’ll play a bit of one song, and we’ll consider how it
relates to that character.
Today, we’ll listen to a song for Izzy Richardson. It’s called “What’s Up?” by Four Non-Blondes, and it was released in 1992. Celeste Ng explains, “The existential angst, the crescendo（n. 声音渐增 adv. 渐次加强地 adj. 渐强的 vi. 音量逐渐增强） from resigned frustration to furious scream, the prayer for a revolution: I can’t think of a song that better captures Izzy.”
Wrap Up
Thank you for participating in ThinkTank Learning’s Book Club! I look forward to chatting with you in our next episode, when we’ll discuss chapters 14 through 16 of Little Fires Everywhere.
In the meantime, we invite you to share your responses to this episode’s reflection questions and pronunciation practice.
Optional Questions
First up is multiple choice. Do you remember the answer to these questions? You can find the answer in the episode.
1. How does Mia help Bebe get a lawyer?
a. Mia lets Mr. Richardson, who is a lawyer, know about the case, and he volunteers to help Bebe because he believes in helping those who are less fortunate.
b. Mia arranges for there to be news coverage of the case, and eventually a lawyer offers to represent Bebe free of charge.
c. Mia sells several of her photographs to raise enough money to hire Bebe’s lawyer.
2. Why does Mia lose her scholarship at the end of her first year of college?
a. The state has budget cuts, so the school no longer has enough money for Mia’s scholarship.
b. The school finds out that Mia is having a baby, which goes against its scholarship policy.
c. Since Mia is working so many part-time jobs, she is unable to complete her coursework and fulfill the scholarship requirements.
Now for an open-ended question:
Mrs. Richardson believes that by following the rules, a person will have a happy, peaceful, and successful life. Some sacrifices are necessary, but the rewards are more than worth it. This is a major reason that Mrs. Richardson feels threatened by Mia, who lives life on her own terms and for no one else. In your opinion, is it more important for an individual to follow the rules or create her own path?
Pronunciation Practice
Here is a passage with which to practice your English pronunciation. It was written by Celeste Ng.
All her life, she had learned that passion, like fire, was a dangerous thing.
It so easily went out of control. It scaled walls and jumped over trenches. Sparks leapt like fleas and spread as rapidly; a breeze could carry embers for miles. Better to control that spark and pass it carefully from one generation to the next, like an Olympic torch. Or, perhaps, to tend it carefully like an eternal flame: a reminder of light and goodness that would never--could never--set anything ablaze. Carefully controlled. Domesticated. Happy in captivity. The key, she thought, was to avoid conflagration.
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