我想知道大火是否已经出来了。我想知道所有的大火是否与爸爸说，所有人类都与之相关，那天我煮过热狗时燃烧着我的大火是否与我相连，因为我冲了厕所，而火灾在酒店燃烧。我没有这些问题的答案，但是我所知道的是，我生活在一个可能爆发的世界中。正是这种知识使您保持脚趾。
(I wondered if the fire had been out to get me. I wondered if all fire was related, like Dad said all humans were related, if the fire that had burned me that day while I cooked hot dogs was somehow connected o the fire I had flushed down the toilet and the fire burning at the hotel. I didn't have the answers to those questions, but what I did know was that I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes.)
在“玻璃城堡”中，珍妮特·沃尔斯（Jeannette Walls）反映了她与火的复杂关系，考虑到涉及火的事件是否相互联系。她质疑在儿童烹饪事故中伤害她的大火是否可能与她一生中的其他大火有关，包括她的家庭住宅和酒店。这种内省揭示了对她的存在有更深入的理解，在那里大火象征着危险和不可预测性。
墙壁承认她一生中的无处不在，将其描述为不断的威胁，使她保持警惕。这种认识强调了她世界的脆弱性，灾难随时可能袭击，塑造了她对生活和生存的看法。火的隐喻说明了她的成长经历中存在的混乱和动荡，突出了在动荡的环境中的韧性和意识的主题。