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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Autobiography of Red, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Identity and Creativity
Communication and Mystery
Time
Self and World
Summary
Analysis
Geryon’s mother stands at the ironing board, lights a cigarette, and watches Geryon. Geryon’s mother repeatedly tells him it’s time to go to school, but Geryon refuses. Geryon’s mother tells him school would be tough if he were weak, but he’s not. She adjusts his red wings and urges him out the door.
The detail of Geryon’s mother adjusting his wings comes from Carson’s translation of one of the remaining fragments of Stesichoros’s Geryoneis. Geryon’s mother’s tender touch indicates that she loves Geryon for the very aspect of himself—his monstrosity—for which he feels most ashamed. Geryon’s mother is unlike the other characters that the book has introduced thus far, in that she affirms and values Geryon’s existence.
Themes
