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Part 2, Chapter 1
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
During the heat of the afternoon, the brightness of the sun draws Raka to the window of her room. It looks down the mountainside to the distant plains. After a while, she slips through the window and begins to explore the garden. The cluttered, rocky ravine fascinates her. A little way down its length she can see a large, ominous-looing factory that draws her curiosity. Skirting along the garden fence, she circles around to the outbuilding where Ram Lal is napping. Because he can’t answer her questions about the factory, she climbs to the highest part of the garden to look out over the countryside and wait.
Nanda Kaul mainly worries about Raka’s visit because she doesn’t want to have to go back to taking care of others. But Raka doesn’t seem to need much care in this moment. And it's already clear that she doesn’t feel drawn to the great-grandmother that just seems (to her) to be part of the scenery. Instinctively, she turns from someone who doesn’t want her and toward the kindly Ram Lal. Notably, she’s immediately drawn not to the garden’s flowers or shady apricot trees, but the wilderness of the ravine.
Themes
