The House Is on Fire

Sally Henry Campbell starts off the novel as a childless widow trying to regain some of the excitement and joy she lost when her husband died. During the fire, she rises to the occasion, going back to look for Margaret, saving Mr. Scott, and encouraging other women to jump out the window. She continues this work in the aftermath, helping Mrs. Cowley care for the injured and arguing on behalf of the fire’s female victims. These experiences lead her to become disillusioned with women’s place in society and how men treat them. This is expressed in an exchange between her and Margaret in the aftermath when both women remark that they cannot return to their old lives thanks to what they know now.

Sally is very caring, showing this repeatedly in how she looks after Margaret and the other injured survivors. She is observant and a quick judge of character, able to read others’ emotions and react accordingly. This also has the effect of making her annoyed with the way men treat her, as she can see how they disregard her reasoning and choices. For example, she is irritated at still being thought of as only Patrick Henry’s daughter, reflecting that “She took Robert’s name a dozen years ago now, as a girl of nineteen, but plenty of men still refuse to think of her as anyone other than Patrick Henry’s daughter” (10).