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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Autobiography of Red, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Identity and Creativity
Communication and Mystery
Time
Self and World
Summary
Analysis
When Geryon is little, he loves sleeping, but mostly he loves waking up. Each new day marks the start of a new world. The word “each” has always puzzled Geryon. He can’t understand what it means. One day he asked his mother, who compared it to how Geryon and his brother each have their own room.
The novel expands on the idea of multiple, unstable ways of being Carson introduced in her opening essay: the world’s meaning isn’t static and shifts with each new day, so it’s so exciting for Geryon to wake up each morning. Geryon’s fixation on the word “each” indicates that he is learning to distinguish between himself and the outside world.
Themes
One day, Geryon’s grandmother comes to live with them after suffering a bad fall, forcing Geryon to move into his brother’s room for several months. Geryon complains about the smell in his brother’s room. They bicker back and forth. Many nights, he can hear his brother “pulling on his stick” in the bottom bunk bed. Geryon asks him why he does this, and his brother asks Geryon to show him his, offering to give him a cat’s-eye marble if he does. Geryon has always wanted a cat’s-eye and agrees. Geryon’s older brother warms him not to tell their mother. When Geryon lets his older brother do whatever he wants, he’s suddenly nice to Geryon. Afterward, Geryon returns to his top bunk, puts his pajama bottoms back on, and thinks, “inside is mine.”
Geryon’s brother is sexually abusing him, and this abuse complicates Geryon’s new understanding of self versus other. The abuse teaches Geryon to see the outside world as a sinister force one must hide from rather than an enriching opportunity to connect with others. When Geryon states that “inside is mine,” he indicates that he has learned to turn inward in an act of self-preservation. While he has no control over the harm his outer self incurs from the outside world, he does have the power to protect and preserve his inner life. This scene is important because it shows how Geryon’s brother’s act of sexual violence against Geryon stunts Geryon’s development, teaching him to fear participating in the outside world among other people, which is necessary for a meaningful, fulfilled life.
Themes
The next day, the brothers go to the beach. Geryon’s brother finds a dollar and gives it to Geryon. Geryon finds a piece of a war helmet and hides it from his brother. On this day, Geryon begins working on his autobiography, “set[ting] down all inside things,” and excluding “outside things.”
In writing his autobiography, Geryon is trying to strengthen and magnify the “inside things” he can control, guarding them against “outside things,” such as his brother’s abuse. Geryon believes that guarding his inner life against the outside world will be a self-affirming experience that will make his identity stronger and more authentic.
Themes
