Melanie

“All her life, she had learned that passion, like fire, was a dangerous thing. It so easily sent out of control. It scaled walls and jumped over trenches. Sparks leapt like fleas and spread as rapidly; a breeze could carry embers for miles. Better to control that spark and pass it carefully from one generation to the next, like and Olympic torch. Or, perhaps, to tend it carefully like an eternal flame: a reminder of light and goodness that would never - could never - set anything ablaze. Carefully controlled. Domesticated. Happy in captivity. The key, she thought, was to avoid conflagration... Rules existed for a reason: if you followed them, you would succeed; if you didn’t, you might burn the world to the ground.”
― Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere