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Part 2, Chapter 17
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
Raka flies from the house and up the hillside, intent on visiting the burned cottage. There is little left but a pile of charred stones. A little farther up lies an abandoned building site; the fire that consumed the little cottage dissuaded the landowners from their own building project. No one comes here except Raka and the wild cuckoos who scavenge the sere places for food and who beckon Raka to join them in the wilderness. The harsh landscape on the hill draws Raka too, its devastation inspiring and intriguing her.
The book creates an affinity between Raka and the burned cottage; both are isolated because of the harm they have suffered. The freedom Nanda Kaul envies in Raka arises at least in part at the cost of suffering and destruction. Indeed, although Raka didn’t seem to be disturbed by news of her mother’s illness, her flight to the burned cottage suggests some emotional upheaval.
Themes
Carignano is the best place Raka has ever lived, but she still finds it too confining. She only feels comfortable in broken and ravaged spaces, like the ravine and the wind-swept hilltops. She feels no attachment to the civilized world. As she runs off, the cottage’s caretaker catches a glimpse of her—of “the crazy one from Carignano”—out of the corner of his eye.
Because readers’ insight into Raka is limited, it’s impossible to be certain how much of her independence arises from the trauma she’s suffered and how much of it is natural to her spirit. But here the book reveals that some kernel of Raka’s character has always stood apart from the civilized world.
Themes
