FIRE SYMBOLISM

                In the movie “Smoke Signals”, the symbol of fire was very important.  It is key to understanding this symbol in order to fully understand the true meaning of the movie.  Throughout the movie, fire is seen and affects all of the characters greatly.

                First of all, the first time we see fire is when Arnold is saving Thomas from his burning house.  His parents die in this fire, but Thomas is thrown out the window and saved.  During this part Thomas is also narrating and comparing children to flames and ashes.  Thomas states, “You know there are some children who aren't really children at all, they're just pillars of flame that burn everything they touch. And there are some children who are just pillars of ash, that fall apart when you touch them... Victor and me, we were children of flame and ash.”  This really gives a key insight into what flames mean.    You can see this comparison throughout the whole movie with the two boys.  Victor always seems to have an anger issue (mostly because his father left him) and Thomas just has such a sensitive and caring soul.  It seems fitting that Thomas is the ashes because he was in the fire and lost everything, therefore he’d be the end result of the fire and its destruction.  Victor is still the flame, because he has all of this anger pent up inside of him.  His fire is still raging on and until he can come to terms with this, he will never get to ashes.

                The other place that fire is seen is when Suzy Song burns down Arnold’s trailer.  I think that after Thomas’ parents died, Arnold kind of started to become ashes as well.  He was just breaking himself down, especially with his alcoholism, and finally he became ashes himself (being cremated).  The burning down of his trailer signifies this.  And, although this may be stretching it a bit... I feel as the burning of his trailer finally allowed him to become FLAMES again, after having been ashes for so long.  It was his last time at being strong and almighty flames.   It is also significant that Suzy gives the boys Arnold’s ashes, because this further strengthens the correlation.

                I really like the connection between fire between this movie and the book “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.”  In that book, the main character also lost a significant family member due to alcohol and fire.  I think, due to the connection with the alcohol, the fire signifies the lost hope of the Native Americans and also just their pure anger at how society still is towards them as a culture and a heritage.

                Overall, I really think that the symbol of the fire, flames and ashes really help to strengthen the movie and helps us understand the characters and their pain even more.  Underlying messages are usually always the strongest and have the most impact on us as viewers.