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Part 2, Chapter 16
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
The next day, Raka sees for herself what Tara meant, because the rain has caused wild lilies to bloom on the usually arid hills. Ram Lal picks armfuls of them to decorate the house. Over breakfast, Raka asks Nanda Kaul about when her mother was a child. Nanda Kaul answers briefly. She doesn’t want Raka to realize how little she knows about her grandchildren. The lilies are the only thing that sticks out about Tara’s childhood.
It's Nanda Kaul, not Raka, who holds the expectation that a family matriarch will remember and care about her descendants, no matter how numerous. And while Nanda Kaul resents feeling this responsibility, unlike Raka, she’s unable to abandon social conventions so easily. She remains self-conscious about her perceived failure of memory and concern.
Themes
Then, Raka asks Nanda Kaul about the letter, about whether it said anything about Tara. Nanda Kaul briefly explains that Tara is ill again. Mentally, she curses her inability to offer comfort to the little girl. But Raka doesn’t seem disturbed, or even very surprised. She merely rises from the table for her morning walk.
