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1-Page Summary of House On Fire

Overall Summary

An ordinary man’s life is turned upside down when he suffers a back injury. He can’t work and barely moves for sixteen weeks. The pain is excruciating, so he spends his days on the floor of his living room where it hurts less to rest.

The story starts off with a description of how the narrator is feeling humiliated as he watches his family drag their Christmas tree to the car. He’s unable to help, and feels ashamed of himself for not being able to provide for his family. His wife rushes off to work while he stays home with their three children, Ben, Sam and Evie. Claire has taken extra shifts at her job because they can’t make ends meet on what he makes.

The narrator’s children were watching too much TV, so he tried to get them to stop. However, his doctor told him not to do any physical activity because of the pain it would cause. As a result, when the narrator went upstairs and pulled out some decorations from their box, he dropped it and broke everything inside.

The narrator, who is in a lot of pain, wants to salvage the family’s Christmas traditions. However, he and his wife aren’t getting along very well. They fight about their home being messy and the narrator feeling like he can’t control anything anymore. He also thinks that his injuries have ruined the marriage because they had been happy together before his accident.

On the night of Christmas Eve, Claire is at work and her husband goes upstairs to hang stockings. He climbs the stairs carefully while thinking about how quickly his children are growing up. This thought makes him sad because he knows that they will soon leave for college, leaving him alone with his wife. On Christmas morning, he thinks about what could be causing his back pain: a physical issue or a psychological one? After working hard all day on Christmas Day, he notices that it’s not as bad as before.

Claire arrives at home from work and the narrator asks her to stand on his back. At first, she is reluctant but then cracks a joke which makes her agree. They share an intimate moment together as they laugh and are physically close to each other. The story ends when Claire gently laughs at him and he removes her hair clips in return.

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The narrator feels ashamed as he watches his wife and son carry their Christmas tree. He thinks the Rotary guy who sold them the tree is judging him because of his injury.

The narrator notices some graffiti on the subway that says “only eight shoplifting days till Christmas,” but doesn’t say anything to his wife. She checks her watch and hurries off to work like she’s in a rush, which signals that they’re having problems with their relationship. They haven’t had sex since before he got injured because of his back injury; he blames himself for not being able to provide financially for them anymore. Meanwhile, Claire is working as a nurse at the hospital and taking care of him at home so much that she has no time or energy left over for herself.

The narrator goes to the attic in search for Christmas decorations. He knows that he has been instructed not to go up there, but he does it anyway because of his curiosity. As soon as the boxes fall on the floor below him, he feels a sharp pain in his back and hears broken glass shattering everywhere.

The narrator finds his children playing with the nativity scene, which has been destroyed. The baby Jesus is still in tact while all of the other figurines have been broken. He notes that his children are glued to their TV most of the time since he’s home taking care of them instead of their mother who died a year ago.