Plot Analysis
Fires in the Mirror is divided into themed sections, encompassing monologues Smith saw fit under each category. They are as divided as follows:
Identity
- The Desert
- Static
- 101 Dalmatians
Mirrors
- Mirrors and Distortions
Hair
- Look in the Mirror
- Me and James’s Thing
- Wigs
Race
- Rope
Rhythm
- Rhythm and Poetry
Seven Verses
- Roots
- Near Enough to Reach
- Seven Verses
- Isaac
- Lousy Language
Crown Heights, Brooklyn, August 1991
- No Blood in His Feet
- Mexican Standoff
- Wa Wa Wa
- “Heil Hitler”
- Knew How to Use Certain Words
- My Brother’s Blood
- Sixteen Hours Difference
- Bad Boy
- Chords
- Ovens
- Rain
- Rage
- The Coup
- Pogroms
- Lingering
Each section is centered around a different theme. These themes include the ideas of personal identity, differences in physical appearance, differences in race, and the feelings toward the riot incidents. Smith divided Fires in the Mirror into themed sections and she systematically placed monologues into these themes. Each monologue has a heading of its own, and when placed into each section, gives an arc to Fires in the Mirror. It lays a path for the audience to follow the line from broad personal identity issues, to physical identity issues, to issues of race and ethnicity, and finally ending in issues relating to the Crown Heights incident.
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