Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Fire on the Mountain, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Nature of Freedom
Honesty and Self-Reflection
Trauma and Suffering
Class and Privilege
Female Oppression
Summary
Analysis
Raka’s name means “moon,” but as she enters Nanda Kaul’s garden, she looks more like a bug, perhaps a leggy mosquito, than a peaceful moon. To Raka, Nanda Kaul looks like just another part of the landscape, like a grey rock or a silvery pine tree. She hears the incessant sound of the cicadas and catches sight of the hoopoes darting among the branches of the apricot trees. She and Nanda Kaul embrace coldly.
Neither Raka nor Nanda Kaul has very favorable feelings toward the other at first. They remain wholly separate from each other. Nanda Kaul sees Raka as a pesky annoyance, and Raka barely sees Nanda Kaul at all. The following chapters will track the development and consequences of these attitudes.
Themes
