Philadelphia Fire Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 8 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Philadelphia Fire.

Philadelphia Fire Themes

This Study Guide consists of approximately 8 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Philadelphia Fire.
This section contains 285 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page)
Buy the Philadelphia Fire Short Guide

Philadelphia Fire Summary & Study Guide Description

Philadelphia Fire Summary & Study Guide includes comprehensive information and analysis to help you understand the book. This study guide contains the following sections:

This detailed literature summary also contains Related Titles on Philadelphia Fire by John Edgar Wideman.

Preview of Philadelphia Fire Summary:

Given the basis of the novel, it is not surprising that its major themes revolve around despair. The overriding theme is that we are destroying ourselves physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As evidence, the book offers descriptions of the garbage we produce, in our homes and on our streets. We see instances of cyclical violence, as when Simba survives the bombing but goes on to lead a gang of violent youngsters. The city and its structures are crumbling, and no emotional tethers exist to hold people together. Societal and individual despair pervades Philadelphia Fire.

Similarly depressing is the theme of exile. Cudjoe, the initial protagonist of the book, has exiled himself to Greece for ten years before returning in search of Simba, whom he saw on the television news. Wideman, who enters the book in Part II, isolates himself in Wyoming, and his son is exiled in prison. A...

This section contains 285 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page)
Buy the Philadelphia Fire Short Guide
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Philadelphia Fire from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.