What story will Esso share with Peace Corps volunteer Fred Koehler? Does Esso really understand the kind of story that Fred wants to hear? Click the button below to read Fred’s version of the story, as written in his essay.
If you were confused by the ending of “The Big Fire,” you aren’t alone. Here’s what Fred thought about the story.
Esso smiles again, shyly, and I wait expectantly for the end. But his silence tells me that the story is, in fact, over, and I assure him that I enjoyed his story very much. We chat a bit longer, and he returns to what he had been doing before―gathering wood.
I had never heard this story before, and was unsatisfied by the ending. Where was the justice? How did the farmer manage to survive without his crops? And as for the wicked boy, what poetic twist of fate eventually brings him to a deserved end?
But soon I realized that I had missed something. The story Esso told reflects a harsh aspect of life: crime sometimes goes unpunished. The guilty conscience of the culprit may be his or her only penalty. And, as in the case of the farmer, bad things can happen to people who don't deserve them. But I find here that there's a strong acceptance that what's done is done, regardless of whose fault it is. Life here is sometimes a series of trials, and the only way to survive is to shrug off bad fortune and start planting crops for the next year.
Were it my story, though, I would have had a fairy turn the little bandit into a frog.
Like a good Peace Corps volunteer, Fred does more than simply listen politely to Esso’s story. He tries hard to understand it. Use the activity below to consider the meaning of “The Big Fire.”
Why is Fred confused by Esso’s story?
Koehler expects Esso to tell a story, like his own, that teaches a life lesson. But Koehler’s idea of a “good” lesson is quite different from the one in Esso’s story.
Koehler expects Esso to tell a story, like his own, that teaches a life lesson. But Koehler’s idea of a “good” lesson is quite different from the one in Esso’s story.
Koehler expects Esso to tell a story, like his own, that teaches a life lesson. But Koehler’s idea of a “good” lesson is quite different from the one in Esso’s story.
What does Fred have to do to figure out the meaning of Esso’s story?
Fred knows enough about the role of stories in a culture to look at Esso’s own life as a key to the story’s message.
Fred knows enough about the role of stories in a culture to look at Esso’s own life as a key to the story’s message.
Fred knows enough about the role of stories in a culture to look at Esso’s own life as a key to the story’s message.
What is the moral of Esso’s story, according to Fred?
Fred decides that Esso’s story is about how harsh life can be and that it’s important sometimes to let it go and get on with life.
Fred decides that Esso’s story is about how harsh life can be and that it’s important sometimes to let it go and get on with life.
Fred decides that Esso’s story is about how harsh life can be and that it’s important sometimes to let it go and get on with life.
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