Where Their Fire is Not Quenched
Harriott Leigh’s inability to understand the true meaning of love in May Sinclair’s “Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched” leads her to live a miserable life and foreshadows her experiences in Hell. In life, Harriot claimed to love three men. George Waring and Stephen Philpotts were her first two loves—individuals she failed to give a meaningful reason for loving. The third was Oscar Wade, whom she felt compelled to love. Although Oscar Wade had his own family, (a wife and children), was boring and lacking all of the elements Harriott felt she needed in a loving relationship, she chose to stay with him until he left her. She felt as though she had to because they had invested so much time in each other. She felt as though she had nothing else and no other choice. When Harriott dies and becomes a ghost, she arrives in Hell and finds Oscar Wade lurking around every corner, in each of her memories. No matter what she does or where she goes, Harriott cannot escape him. Finally, she discovers the truth—she and Oscar are trapped with one another because of the decisions she made during the course of her life. Being that she accepted their loveless relationship as one filled with love, her version of Hell came to mirror what she found in life. In other words, Harriott created her own Hell.
Rating: 3.7/5 stars