The Fire Symbol Analysis

The fire burning in Emily Inglethorp’s bedroom on the night of her murder symbolizes how easy it can be to overlook clues that otherwise seem obvious. Nobody except Poirot makes much of the fact that Emily had a fire going in her bedroom, instead latching onto other details at the scene of the crime—like, for instance, the spilled coffee, the crushed cup, the upturned bedside table, or the green fabric found on the door leading to Cynthia’s room. Of course, some of these details end up helping Poirot piece together what happened that night, but the fire is perhaps the most conspicuous clue, even if it’s also the one hardly anyone thinks about. Poirot, however, identifies its significance almost right away and even urges Hastings to consider the weather on the day of Emily’s death. He tries to get his friend to think along these lines because doing so would help Hastings see that it was very strange for Emily to have a fire burning in her bedroom on one of the hottest nights of the entire year. And yet, Hastings still doesn’t give the fire any thought and is therefore surprised that Poirot is able to point to it as evidence that Emily wanted to destroy one of her wills. After all, there’s virtually no reason she would want a fire in her bedroom on such a hot night other than to destroy an important piece of paper. The fact that the fire is such a glaring clue that everyone ignores thus embodies the human tendency to ignore things hiding in plain sight.