Like a House on Fire

by

Cate Kennedy

The Christmas Nativity Scene Symbol Analysis

The Christmas Nativity Scene Symbol Icon

Feeling useless and humiliated, the narrator attempts to make himself useful by retrieving the Christmas decorations from the attic. However, he falters on the ladder, dropping the box that contains Claire’s childhood nativity set. Inspecting the damage, he realizes that all the nativity figurines have shattered, with the exception of the “baby Jesus.” On the one hand, the act of breaking his wife’s decorations symbolizes how fragile their relationship is at the moment. On the other hand, the fact that the figurine of Jesus—the Savior—survived suggests that there might be hope for them to salvage their marriage. When the narrator later apologizes to his wife for the breakage, she just laughs, saying “That's OK. It was made in the Philippines. Funny how everything except the Jesus broke.” Claire’s reference to cheap goods made in the Philippines suggests that her nativity set is somehow not worthy of evoking nostalgia, simply because it was mass-produced. Kennedy highlights the wasteful nature of Western capitalism when depicting how, despite having the set since she was a child, Claire does not attach value to it because she sees it as disposable and easily replaceable. Kennedy complicates her portrayal of modern capitalism, however, when Evie saves the day by creating a new nativity scene using her plastic dolls and toys. Here, the image of the plastic nativity scene demonstrates how mass-produced goods can have sentimental value, and it thus provides a realistic portrayal of modernity and contemporary family values.

The Christmas Nativity Scene Quotes in Like a House on Fire

The Like a House on Fire quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Christmas Nativity Scene. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Humiliation and Masculinity Theme Icon
).
Like A House on Fire Quotes

“Every sheep and cow, every adoring shepherd, broken. Only the baby Jesus in his crib, one leg raised in that classic nappy-changing pose, remains miraculously unscathed.”

Related Characters: The narrator (speaker), Claire
Related Symbols: The Christmas Nativity Scene
Page Number: 73-4
Explanation and Analysis:

That motion, swinging and lifting my arm to full stretch, feels like someone has taken a big ceramic shard out of the box—a remnant bit of shepherd, maybe, or a shattered piece of camel—and is stabbing it into the base of my spine.

Related Characters: The narrator (speaker)
Related Symbols: The Christmas Nativity Scene
Page Number: 75
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Christmas Nativity Scene Symbol Timeline in Like a House on Fire

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Christmas Nativity Scene appears in Like a House on Fire. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Like A House on Fire
Humiliation and Masculinity Theme Icon
As he inspects the damage—numerous shattered ceramic ornaments—the narrator notices that from the broken nativity scene , “only the baby Jesus […] remains miraculously unscathed.” His three children—Ben, Sam, and Evie—pay... (full context)
Intimacy, Communication, and Humor Theme Icon
When Claire returns home, Ben tells her about the broken nativity scene and the narrator can sense her unspoken despair and frustration. In a brief and “excruciating”... (full context)
Intimacy, Communication, and Humor Theme Icon
The narrator apologizes to Claire about her nativity set , which he knows she’s had since she was a child. She replies, laughing, “funny... (full context)
Intimacy, Communication, and Humor Theme Icon
After seeing how Evie saved the nativity display , the narrator tells his wife not to “do the Christmas Eve shift” at the... (full context)
Humiliation and Masculinity Theme Icon
Intimacy, Communication, and Humor Theme Icon
The narrator takes a photo of Evie’s nativity scene , says some encouraging words to Sam, and shares a joke with Ben, thinking that... (full context)