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58. Proposals
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
As Emoni finishes washing dishes that night, she’s disappointed when ’Buela says that Babygirl is already asleep. But Emoni says she needs to talk to ‘Buela about something else: if Emoni is able to raise enough money to fund the trip to Spain, she doesn’t want to assume that ’Buela will just take care of Babygirl all on her own. She doesn’t think she can ask Tyrone, since he’s in school and his parents work odd hours at the hospital. Sighing, ’Buela says she always wanted to travel with Emoni’s grandfather, but then he died and “here they are.” But Emoni won’t have this opportunity again, so she’ll call Tyrone’s parents and they’ll work something out as a graduation present for Emoni. She then says she’s proud of Emoni and asks if Emoni has filled out the FAFSA yet. Emoni hugs ‘Buela.
In this passage, Emoni applies what she’s learning in Culinary Arts to her family life. She realizes that it’s inappropriate to assume that ’Buela is just going to let her skip off to Spain. ’Buela, to her credit, wants to support Emoni and is happy to do so. But there’s also a bittersweet tone to her response: “here they are” seems to refer to the fact that ’Buela is caring for more generations of kids (and trying to send one to college) instead of saving her money and traveling. She, like Emoni has for much of the novel, is prioritizing her caregiving charges rather than her own desires.
Themes
