Humans are social creatures and long for connection with others. This fact is examined closely in Ron Rash’s “Burning Bright,” a short story about a woman named Marcie who lives in a small town dealing with drought and arsonist fires.
The story follows Marcie around as she runs errands, cares for her home, and thinks of her new and younger husband, Carl. At the beginning, Marcie is home alone and watching the news. As she drives to the grocery store, she thinks about the unwelcoming Floridians and also goes along the road identifying each of her neighbors by name. When she arrives at the store, she speaks with Barbara, a gossipy woman who alienates Marcie with her conversation. Rash uses all of these instances to establish resonance and atmosphere in the story early on. He sets Marcie in a very isolated, lonely place. The only person to speak to Marcie is the town gossip, who makes her think of how her daughters don’t speak with her and tries to instigate drama between her and Carl by making her jealous. Even the scenery is remote, with Marcie’s home being a half-mile away from anyone else’s and making that seem excruciating with the drought and dust, almost reminding the reader of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Lastly, Rash uses third-person-limited point of view to even further distance the reader from Marcie, truly solidifying how lonely this woman is.
Weaving in-between these scenes of solitude with Marcie is the memories she has of both of her husbands. Arthur, who we find out died, is the catalyst for Marcie’s loneliness while Carl, her new and younger husband, is the remedy for it. We are shown how Marcie perceives that the community abandoned her, only doing things such as chopping wood and checking on her seemingly out of respect for her late husband. During this time, Marcie buys several locks, as if to protect herself from being hurt again and also to resign herself to the fate of living alone for the rest of her life. It is here that Carl enters the picture and Marcie finds herself drawn to him. Unlike her, Carl is at home in his solitude, something she is desperate for. The community doesn’t like their relationship. and it pushes Marcie further away from them, most likely because he soothes her loneliness while the others abandoned her.
This carries over to the conclusion of the story, where the fires are linked to Carl through a hiker spotting a black pickup fleeing the scene. The sheriff comes by to ask where Carl is, and despite her own doubts earlier in the story, she covers for him. That night, after making love with her husband, Marcie prays for rain, because she would rather have him there with her than be alone once again.
Jamie: Excellent work. This is a fine discussion of the story. It would be interesting to explain how it could be that the third-person, limited-omniscience point of view further isolates Marcia. I think I know what you mean, but this feels like a complicated element of craft.