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Part 3, 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
Ram Lal clears away the tea dishes as Ila Das prepares to leave. She comments about the dryness of the summer, noting that she hardly dares to light a match for fear of sparking a wildfire. Neither she nor Nanda Kaul notices Raka listening. She slips away and climbs to the top of the knoll, where she looks out over the rolling blue-grey hills and imagines herself alone on a boat in the middle of the sea. When Nanda Kaul walks Ila Das to the gate, their motion breaks her reverie. Rising, she sneaks into the kitchen, takes a box of matches, and climbs down into the ravine.
Raka has known her share of pain and suffering in life, as have Ila Das and Nanda Kaul. The ever-present threat of wildfires suggests, furthermore, that suffering is an inherent part of life. In answer, Raka follows her habit and slips away to one of the isolated, wild spots that give her a sense of clarity and peace. And it is perhaps this that gives her the idea to spark a fire of her own.
Themes
