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
Of all the treasures her father brought home, Nanda Kaul says, she kept only the statue. While they wait out the rainstorm, she tells Raka about all the treasures her husband, the Vice-Chancellor, collected. Nanda Kaul is not a collector; after her husband died, she distributed the treasures among her children and came to Carignano to live simply. Raka’s interest wanes as the storm passes, distressing Nanda Kaul. As they step outside into an afternoon made cool and clear by the rain, she suddenly remembers a visit Tara made to Carignano many years ago, and how the little girl called rainy days “lily days.” Raka asks why, but Nanda Kaul briskly shoos her off to take her afternoon walk.
The simple and austere Buddha statue represents the life that Nanda Kaul wishes to live—remember that the Buddha renounced his princely status and great wealth and lived a life of simple poverty on his way to enlightenment. But Nanda Kaul still defines her life by describing what she doesn’t want rather than articulating what she does. Her life was too full before, so she emptied it. She isn’t consciously considering the idea that she has made it too empty, but her memory of Tara suggests that she still has a capacity and an unmet yearning for connection.
Themes
