Like a House on Fire

by

Cate Kennedy

Themes and Colors
Humiliation and Masculinity Theme Icon
Chaos vs. Order Theme Icon
Intimacy, Communication, and Humor Theme Icon
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Like a House on Fire, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.

Humiliation and Masculinity

“Like a House on Fire” is the story of an unnamed man suffering from severe back pain after an accident at work. After nearly sixteen weeks recovering at home, the narrator feels humiliated by his inability to work or provide for his family. Author Cate Kennedy reveals how the protagonist’s humiliation is inherently linked to a sense of inadequate masculinity. Although his physical frailness, his inability to play with his children, and his failure to…

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Chaos vs. Order

In “Like a House on Fire,” a perfectionistic man’s life is thrown into chaos when he sustains a serious back injury at work and is forced to take extensive sick leave. The story’s two central characters—the unnamed narrator and his wife, Claire—embody order and chaos, respectively, and the conflict between the two illustrates how insisting on complete order can actually lead to increased chaos. Some chaos, Kennedy suggests, is inevitable, and denying that…

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Intimacy, Communication, and Humor

“Like a House on Fire” is the story of a couple navigating the challenges of love, pain, and family. When the unnamed narrator’s workplace injury puts a serious strain on his marriage, Kennedy portrays how he and his wife, Claire, rely on humor to keep their relationship alive, and to communicate with one another about things that would otherwise go unsaid.

Through the example of the narrator and Claire, Kennedy candidly depicts the…

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