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65. Out of the Frying Pan
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
It’s two weeks to Thanksgiving and four weeks to the Winter Dinner. The deposit for Spain is due just a few days after the Winter Dinner, and Emoni can tell that Chef Ayden is worried the class won’t make it. When Emoni gets to Culinary Arts in the third week of November, there are no recipes. Instead, Chef says that today, they’ll brainstorm how to raise more money at the Winter Dinner. Richard suggests that they get people like his dad, who’s a landscaper, to donate services to auction. Amanda suggests opening the dinner to the public, and Emoni takes notes. Just as Chef looks ready to shut down brainstorming, Emoni says that they should advertise on social media. She also suggests they approach Principal Holderness with their ideas. The worst that could happen is he says no—but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Chef agrees.
As Emoni becomes more attuned to Chef Ayden’s fears and inner thoughts more broadly, she feels more like she’s part of a team working toward a larger goal. This becomes even more apparent as she helps her classmates advocate for more fundraising opportunities to Chef Ayden—he’s not the enemy here, but his first instinct also seems to be to not support yet more work for himself. However, he supports his students and Emoni specifically, albeit subtly. He becomes a safe figure to practice communicating with, and he then gets out of Emoni’s way and lets her try out these new ideas.
Themes
