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9. Kitchen Sink Conversations
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in With the Fire on High, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age and Teen Parenthood
Creativity vs. Professional Norms
Food and Connection
Caregiving, Independence, and Identity
Support, Community, and Mentorship
Summary
Analysis
Emoni has always wanted to be a chef. She started watching cooking shows and taking notes on her phone early. ’Buela allowed Emoni to experiment with more interesting ingredients, like gizzards and fancy Italian sausage (some of which Emoni bought with her own money). For Emoni’s 12th birthday, ‘Buela bought her a real knife set.
This passage lays out how supportive ’Buela has been of Emoni’s passion for cooking. That young Emoni purchased some of the ingredients herself highlights how passionate she is about food, flavors, and experimentation. She wants to learn, and as a kid, it’s up to her to give herself these learning experiences.
Themes
In eighth grade, when Emoni was applying for high schools, she told her guidance counselor she wanted to be a chef. But instead of pushing Emoni toward the school with a prestigious culinary arts program, the counselor said Emoni’s grades weren’t good enough and pushed her toward Schomburg Charter, which had a lottery. Only three kids from the neighborhood—Emoni, Angelica, and Pretty Leslie—got in. Emoni’s not a bad student, she’s just better with hands-on stuff than she is with memorization. But this means that Emoni has never been able to take a culinary arts class before.
In contrast to ’Buela, the counselor at Emoni’s middle school doesn’t encourage Emoni to follow her passions and pursue the education Emoni truly wants. And this has had long-term consequences: Emoni is working at a burger joint, and she’s never had formal cooking instruction. This has relegated Emoni’s passion to just a hobby, when Emoni would much rather it be a career that will allow her to one day make a living.
Themes
