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Part 2, Chapter 8
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
After Raka’s clear rejection and resentment on their one walk, Nanda Kaul doesn’t try to accompany Raka again. But when Raka slips from the garden in the afternoons, Nanda Kaul puts down her book and watches to see where she goes. Raka rarely sticks to the paved expanse of the Upper or Lower Mall—in Nanda Kaul’s sight—for long. She slips beneath the railing to explore the ravine or forays to nearby villages to watch the harvest being brought in. She rarely encounters other people.
From Nanda Kaul’s initial reaction to Raka’s arrival, it seems logical to expect that she would perceive Raka’s rejection of her attention as a blessing rather than a curse. Instead, her drive to figure Raka out suggests that she was always more interested in her than she wanted to admit. And it hints at her growing awareness of how far she falls short of her ideal of freedom.
Themes
Nanda Kaul, who prizes isolation and privacy above all else, nevertheless cannot stop trying to draw Raka out of her shell. She wants to understand what drives the girl. One day, Nanda Kaul suggests that Raka visit the club to play with the other children. Raka—thinking in horror about the few times her parents tried to encourage her to socialize—points out that Nanda Kaul doesn’t go there either. This delights Nanda Kaul, who leans over and conspiratorially says that Raka is “exactly like” her. Raka instinctively draws back from this overt display of emotion. Nanda Kaul is, in turn, surprised by her own outburst and hurt by Raka’s reaction.
Nanda Kaul never fully explains her interest in Raka—the book thus suggests that she may not have insight into her own actions in this regard. But readers can observe a few clues here. First, Nanda Kaul knows that Raka effortlessly possesses the freedom and autonomy she herself wants. Understanding Raka in this regard could help Nanda Kaul get what she wants—or thinks she wants. Second, Nanda Kaul seems irked that Raka doesn’t need her. Her caretaking instincts do not seem to have been extinguished as she suggested earlier.
Themes
Nanda Kaul and Raka sit in tense silence for several moments as Raka watches the hoopoe nest in the eaves of the house. Every day since her arrival, she had watched the adult hoopoes collecting food for their babies and fighting with the bulbuls (smaller birds) over the apricots. She knows the adult birds are waiting for the humans to vacate the verandah so they can fly to their babies. Eventually, she can’t hold her tongue and she cries out that if they don’t leave the birds won’t be able to feed their babies. Nanda Kaul coolly dismisses Raka for her evening walk.
Raka may hold herself aloof from other people, but that doesn’t mean that she is incapable of observing—or caring about—what happens around her. Nanda Kaul’s inability to notice the hoopoe’s distress mirrors her inability to notice—or care about—Raka’s distress over Nanda Kaul’s attempts to insinuate herself into the girl’s world. Tellingly, Nanda Kaul resents the noise of the hoopoe babies because they represent domestic responsibilities to her. But Raka simply sees them as living creatures that deserve to go about their lives in peace—the attitude she wishes her grandmother would take toward her.
Themes
