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Part 2, Chapter 5
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
When Raka gets back to Carignano, she talks to Ram Lal as he heats water for her afternoon bath. She tells him about the snake—it’s a rat snake, he tells her—and the interesting things she sees in the ravine. She confesses that she wants to see a jackal, despite Ram Lal’s warnings. Ram Lal thinks that Nanda Kaul should take Raka to the Kasauli Club to play with other children. Raka knows she wouldn’t like it—she never has fit into the world of other children.
Even as he and Raka strike up an odd friendship, Ram Lal finds the little girl disquieting. The kind of life he describes, one of country-club playdates with other privileged children, isn’t right for her, and Raka knows it. What’s more, she’s content with her life even though it looks strange or inappropriate to others. She knows herself well—another arena in which she surpasses her great-grandmother.
Themes
Before the water is hot, a dust storm races up the mountain. Ram Lal and Raka shelter in the kitchen. Ram Lal frets about wildfires, which are not uncommon in the area. Raka describes the shell of a burned cottage she saw on the mountain, and Ram Lal tells her about the English lady who lived there and who went crazy when it burned. She lost her hair and eyebrows to the fire while trying to rescue her cat. The dust storm passes without spreading any flames, and Ram Lal carries the kettle of warm water to the bathroom. Nanda Kaul watches from a window.
As time goes on, readers get more and more insight into the fragility of Nanda Kaul’s carefully constructed existence. Her relatives and friends ignore her desire to be alone, and even when she’s left to herself, she runs the risk of wildfires. And, as she watches Ram Lal talk to Raka through the window, Nanda Kaul betrays a growing interest in her great-granddaughter that belies her sense of isolation.
Themes
