54 pages • 1 hour read
Hannah GraceWildfire
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Impact of Family Dynamics on Relationships
Content Warning: This mentions gambling addiction, parental neglect and verbal abuse, and alcohol abuse.
Through Russ and Aurora’s relationship, Wildfire explores the role that family dynamics play in romantic and platonic relationships. Both Russ and Aurora face family struggles, particularly struggles brought on by a parental figure, which impact the way they establish and continue relationships with others.
For Russ, his strained family relationships make him feel unimportant and isolated, feelings that are exacerbated by his efforts to conceal his father’s addiction through privacy and secrecy. Russ admits to joining “a fraternity at the beginning of school because [he] wanted a family that wouldn’t let [him] down like [his] real one does” (4). The failure of his fraternity brothers to support him only heightens the insecurities his family brings out—feelings of inadequacy and fears that he’ll never be anyone’s first choice. Unlike his fraternity brothers, Russ’s hockey teammates offer him unconditional support. However, due to the embarrassment of his father’s gambling addiction, Russ cannot be fully transparent with his hockey teammates and friends; “not even Coach Faulkner or Nate know the full extent of [his] home life” (4), and Henry only knows because he caught Russ at a vulnerable time. Russ’s closest confidante in the novel is JJ, but even JJ jokes “that [Russ] give[s] hardly anything away” (6). For the same reasons that Russ doesn’t share his personal life with his friends, he struggles to have serious relationships with the woman he’s interested in. Not only does he lack the self-confidence to pursue women, but he also never allows himself to reach the point where he feels comfortable sharing his family situation with them.
Because her father has never given her the love she deserves, Aurora lacks confidence and attempts to gain external validation through the approval of others. As Aurora notes, her father’s “blatant disinterest in [her] existence has given [her] a stifling fear of rejection, which has shaped every romantic interaction [she] ha[s]” (51). When she’s not sure if her feelings will be reciprocated, she flees first so that she doesn’t have to experience being left herself. She practices this habit with Russ after their one-night stand by leaving while he’s in the bathroom; she assumes that it’s a subtle sign for her to leave when, in reality, Russ is building up the courage to ask her on a date. The impact Aurora’s family has had on her relationships with others, especially romantic relationships, is evidenced in her thoughts while observing Emilia and Poppy’s dynamic: “I find it impossible not to wonder what my own version of that might look like. But then I remember how fun being traumatized by my parents’ relationship was, and the desire for my own evaporates as quickly as it arrived” (37). Rather than pursuing romance, Aurora therefore seeks external validation while avoiding vulnerability, a pattern that she is only able to break when both she and Russ are honest with each other about their families.
Overcoming Insecurity
Russ and Aurora share a similar primary internal conflict: deep-rooted insecurity exacerbated by their family members. These insecurities become the primary roadblocks in their relationship, with both characters’ arcs defined by the search for self-confidence.
Russ’s early interactions with Aurora are characterized by a concerted effort to “fake” confidence, illustrating that his initial insecurity prevents him from establishing honest, genuine connections with others. Russ consistently reminds himself to pretend to be confident because he tends to “keep [him]self on the outside of things” (6), which prevents him from pursuing any of the women he’s interested in. Due to consistently feeling unwanted by his family, Russ assumes that others in his life will similarly fail to support him, underscoring the connection between overcoming insecurity and The Impact of Family Dynamics on Relationships. His habit of self-isolating and avoiding prying questions from others therefore becomes inseparable from his lack of confidence: He does not allow his belief in his low worth to be disproven because he never seeks out truly authentic relationships with friends or lovers. Because Russ’s insecurities about his family are deeply tied to insecurities about his self-worth, his newfound confidence is best revealed when he is able to be vulnerable and open with both his family and Aurora. For Russ, then, the journey toward overcoming insecurity is marked by honesty and disclosure, revealing that self-confidence is a tool for building connection and accepting vulnerability.
In contrast to Russ’s intense privacy, Aurora’s insecurity manifests in attention-seeking behavior even as she guards herself against potential rejection or abandonment. Because her expectations for her father are so low, her “expectations for men are [also] so low they’re in the pits of hell” (12). Aurora only pursues men for one-night stands and string-free fun because it protects her from abandonment and rejection. Her self-defense mechanisms only inhibit her relationship with Russ as she pushes him away when they become too close. Aurora’s goal for the summer is to rediscover herself at Honey Acres and make decisions “because it will make [her] happy, not because something has triggered [her] into acting out” (38). The campers’ open desire to be around Aurora and see her back as a counselor next year aids in raising her confidence levels. Russ’s tendency to shower Aurora with verbal affirmations and words of affection also helps. By the end of the novel, her growing self-confidence is revealed both by her desire to pursue a real romantic relationship with Russ, despite the potential for heartbreak that entails, and by her decision to stop trying to get her father’s attention. Aurora’s path toward overcoming insecurity involves recognizing and valuing healthy connections while letting go of those that are detrimental to her emotional well-being. This shift demonstrates her journey toward self-confidence and the understanding that empowerment comes from within, not from the validation or approval of others.
Risk Versus Reward
The dynamic of risk and reward is an important guiding factor in both Russ’s and Aurora’s lives. For Russ, the concept is closely related to the act of gambling—an addiction of his father’s that has ruined his family. Due to this, Russ prefers safety, choosing not to take risks regardless of the potential reward. In contrast, risk is the only way that Aurora has been rewarded with the thing she most desires: attention from her father.
Russ and Aurora must eventually determine whether the risks of addressing familial issues are worth the consequences or rewards that might come from it. Russ and Aurora have many conversations about their parents, invoking metaphors about “repeatedly putting [their] hand[s] in a fire and expecting it not to burn [them]” (350); these metaphors highlight the destructive power of engaging with difficult family dynamics. When Russ risks his fragile relationship with his family by directly addressing his father’s addiction, he is rewarded in several ways. His mother stops making excuses for his father’s behavior and kicks him out of the house, Ethan eases up on his verbal abuse and pressuring of Russ to get involved, and Russ’s father seeks out an anonymous support group for his addiction. Similarly to Russ, Aurora confronts her father about his neglect and the way his behavior makes her feel. While the novel ends with her father still absent from her life, Aurora is rewarded with personal freedom. She no longer feels obligated to act recklessly to obtain his attention or salvage a relationship if he no longer wants it.
Beyond their familial relationships, the couple’s romantic relationship is characterized by risk and reward, invoking the trope of forbidden romance. When Russ and Aurora first address their attraction at Honey Acres, Russ tells her, “I can’t promise I’m going to be around when you’re being reckless, Aurora. I really need this job and I can’t risk being fired” (116). Aurora’s propensity for risk and disregard for rules is evidenced in her reply: “People break all kinds of rules while they’re here and nothing ever happens” (117). Their romance is inherently risky, both because it requires them to be vulnerable in ways neither is comfortable with and because they could lose their jobs at Honey Acres. However, the reward for their romance is the healthy relationship they crave. Ultimately, both characters embrace the risk that their relationship entails. When Russ and Aurora are caught in a compromising position by Jenna, Russ says to her, “I’m sorry I broke the rules, but I don’t regret it, and I’d do it again if it meant I could do it with [Aurora]. […] I’m […] grateful for her” (320). Russ’s acceptance of the potential cost of the couple’s decision illustrates that in the complex equation of risk versus reward, their loving relationship is worth the consequences.
