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57. Visitation
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
Over the next week and a half, Emoni throws herself into coming up with fundraising ideas. Angelica suggests silent auctions, while ’Buela suggests a bingo night at the rec center. Julio encourages Emoni to keep the fundraising local and gives her a letter template she can use to petition the district council member. Emoni spends her afternoons researching and taking notes, and Angelica and Malachi help with charts and checking her math. She practices her presentation in front of ’Buela. Emoni might be the committee chair, but she knows Chef Ayden is right: she needs a team.
Emoni is taking Chef Ayden’s advice to heart and is working hard to work with all the people who want to help her. Specifically, calling on Julio for help helps Emoni start to strengthen their relationship, offering hope that they might be able to improve things between them before the end of the novel. It also seems like a surprise to Emoni that so many people are happy to help, suggesting that prior to this, she never expected help and so seldom received it.
Themes
Now, Emoni is presenting her ideas to Chef Ayden. She tells him that the class should hold a bake sale, but she’d like to use the proceeds to buy food and revive the student café and begin serving lunch to staff and teachers. She also thinks they should speak to the principal about catering the Winter Dinner; it would be a great learning opportunity. Chef Ayden says he’s impressed, but Emoni’s class is the only one advanced enough to make saleable food—can she convince classmates to come in early to cook? Emoni knows she can do this.
Emoni’s proposals certainly have a monetary aspect to them—catering professionally and running a restaurant will make money for the class. But practically speaking, Emoni’s suggestions also mean that she and her classmates will get even more of an education in how the restaurant industry works, and what it takes to make it in the business. As Emoni advocates for herself and her classmates, she also gains confidence and continues to mature.
Themes
