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Part 3, Chapter 3
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
Ila Das immediately launches into a string of reminiscences, starting with Nanda Kaul’s childhood home, where she remembers many lovely afternoon teas. Raka hates this game of rebuilding the past. She had already grown tired of her great-grandmother’s stories, and now she must listen to Ila Das’s. Then Ila Das remembers the piano. With a flourish, she pretends to be playing as she loudly screeches out one song after another from her youth. The sound appalls both Raka and Nanda Kaul, but Ila doesn’t stop until she’s ready to, wiping tears from her eyes and explaining that music always caries her away.
Ila Das’s childhood memories give the lie to Nanda Kaul’s imperious assertions of isolation and independence. It seems that, prior to her marriage at least, she felt no need to avoid the company of others, and she even made life-long friends. Raka hates the walk down memory lane because she sees it for what it is: a lonely old woman’s attempt to resurrect her past happiness rather than face honestly her painful present. Seeing her through Raka’s eyes, Ila Das looks pitiable in her desperation.
Themes
