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Part 2, Chapter 9
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
Eventually, Raka does go to the club—not during the afternoon, when the other children are there, but on the night of the summer party. Ram Lal told her about how lovely it was in the old days. So, on the night of the party, when she hears the band strike up, she puts a sweater over her pajamas, climbs out the window and slides down the hill to investigate. She comes first to the billiard room, where gangly teenaged boys play. She slips silently past the windows, then darts across the lawn, unnoticed by the adults in their party finery. Then she creeps along the verandah to one of the ballroom’s open windows. She parts its green curtain to look inside.
Notably, Raka avoids the club under circumstances that might require her to engage with other people—especially other children—choosing to go as an observer to the summer ball. Her foray onto the club grounds recalls her forays into the ravine, with their attendant danger and revelation. It’s notable that she can slip through such a busy scene. This aligns with her solitary behavior at Carignano, but it also suggests that she is unusually adept at making herself difficult to notice.
Themes
