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Part 3, Chapter 2
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
Nanda Kaul encourages Ila Das to move away from the gate and up the hill. Ila Das peppers her with questions and reminiscences evoked by the sight of the apricot trees. When she catches sight of Raka, she rushes over to introduce herself to the girl, shrilly promising that they’ll be best friends, just like she and Nanda Kaul always have been. She even kisses Raka on the cheek, apparently blind to Raka’s discomfort. Nanda Kaul notices it, feeling outraged on the child’s behalf, but also a little smug that something’s finally gotten under the unflappable girl’s skin. Then, as Ram Lal brings out the tea, Ila Das makes herself thoroughly at home on the verandah.
Ila Das imposes herself on Carignano with a noise and confusion that’s not unlike the langur monkeys. She breaks Nanda Kaul’s sense of control over herself and her environment and reminds her, sharply, that chaos and upheaval are a part of life that she must accept. Nanda—and Raka—have been able to avoid confronting this fact at Carignano, with its high vistas and distance from the rest of the world. But chaos comes to Carignano in the form of Ila Das, nevertheless.
Themes
