Autobiography of Red

by

Anne Carson

Herakles Character Analysis

In Greek mythology, Herakles is the hero who slays the monster Geryon. In Carson’s adaptation of the myth, Herakles is Geryon’s first love who later breaks his heart. They meet when both boys are teenagers and quickly become inseparable, eventually initiating a sexual relationship. Herakles is Geryon’s opposite: he is carefree, confident, and free-spirited. While Geryon wants intimacy and understanding, Herakles has a more casual attitude toward sex and finds the commitment and closeness Geryon desires to be oppressive. Their differing ideologies create friction in their relationship, since Herakles never tells Geryon what he’s thinking, nor does he have any interest in knowing what’s on Geryon’s mind. Herakles values personal freedom above shared experience and often acts at the expense of others. For example, when Herakles and Geryon secretly reunite on a trip to Buenos Aires when they’re in their twenties, Herakles betrays his new partner, Ancash, by initiating sex with Geryon. These opposite stances on freedom and love ultimately prompt Herakles to break up with Geryon toward the end of their visit to Herakles’s home in Hades, where he lives with Herakles’s grandmother and Herakles’s mother. The breakup devastates Geryon but appears not to affect Herakles. When the one-time lovers reunite many years later in Buenos Aires, they realize they are still attracted to each other. However, Herakles becomes annoyed when Geryon cries after they have sex, criticizing Geryon’s inability to separate emotional from physical intimacy, a problem he claims Geryon had back in “the old days,” too. Herakles’s cruelty and refusal to be emotionally vulnerable with Geryon make Geryon realize he no longer loves Geryon and, perhaps, never really knew him in the first place.

Herakles Quotes in Autobiography of Red

The Autobiography of Red quotes below are all either spoken by Herakles or refer to Herakles. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Identity and Creativity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

Up against another human being one’s own procedures take on definition.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles, Geryon’s Mother
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis:

“How does distance look?” is a simple direct question. It extends from a spaceless
within to the edge
of what can be loved.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles, Geryon’s Mother
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

What if you took a fifteen-minute exposure of a man in jail, let’s say the lava
has just reached his window?
he asked. I think you are confusing subject and object, she said.
Very likely, said Geryon.

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Herakles’s Grandmother (speaker), Herakles
Related Symbols: Volcano 
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

All your designs are about captivity, it depresses me.

Related Characters: Herakles (speaker), Geryon
Page Number: 55
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

Reality is a sound, you have to tune in to it not just keep yelling.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles
Page Number: 60
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

How do you think it feels
growing up in a house full
of empty fruit bowls? His voice was high.
His eyes met hers and they began
to laugh. They laughed
until tears ran down. Then they sat quiet. Drifted back
to opposite walls.

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Herakles, Geryon’s Mother, Geryon’s Brother
Page Number: 68-69
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

Geryon’s life entered a numb time, caught between the tongue and the taste.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles, Geryon’s Brother
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:

Yellow? said Geryon and he was thinking Yellow! Yellow! Even in dreams
he doesn’t know me at all! Yellow!

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Herakles
Related Symbols: Red, Wings
Page Number: 74
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

I’m a master of monsters aren’t I?

Related Characters: Herakles (speaker), Geryon, Ancash
Related Symbols: Wings
Page Number: 129
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 38 Quotes

What Geryon was thinking Herakles never asked. In the space between them
developed a dangerous cloud.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles, Ancash, Ancash’s Mother
Related Symbols: Volcano 
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 39 Quotes

A volcano is not a mountain like others. Raising a camera to one’s face has effects
no one can calculate in advance.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles, Ancash, Ancash’s Mother
Related Symbols: Volcano 
Page Number: 135
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45 Quotes

There is one thing I want from you.
Tell me.
Want to see you use those wings.

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Ancash (speaker), Herakles
Related Symbols: Wings , Volcano 
Page Number: 144
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 46 Quotes

This is for Ancash, he calls to the earth diminishing below. This is a memory of our
beauty.

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Herakles, Ancash
Related Symbols: Red, Wings , Volcano 
Page Number: 145
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 47 Quotes

We are amazing beings,
Geryon is thinking. We are neighbors of fire.
And now time is rushing towards them
where they stand side by side with arms touching, immortality on their faces, night at their back.

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Herakles, Ancash, Stesichoros
Related Symbols: Wings , Volcano 
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:
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Autobiography of Red PDF

Herakles Quotes in Autobiography of Red

The Autobiography of Red quotes below are all either spoken by Herakles or refer to Herakles. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Identity and Creativity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 9 Quotes

Up against another human being one’s own procedures take on definition.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles, Geryon’s Mother
Page Number: 42
Explanation and Analysis:

“How does distance look?” is a simple direct question. It extends from a spaceless
within to the edge
of what can be loved.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles, Geryon’s Mother
Page Number: 43
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

What if you took a fifteen-minute exposure of a man in jail, let’s say the lava
has just reached his window?
he asked. I think you are confusing subject and object, she said.
Very likely, said Geryon.

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Herakles’s Grandmother (speaker), Herakles
Related Symbols: Volcano 
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

All your designs are about captivity, it depresses me.

Related Characters: Herakles (speaker), Geryon
Page Number: 55
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

Reality is a sound, you have to tune in to it not just keep yelling.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles
Page Number: 60
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

How do you think it feels
growing up in a house full
of empty fruit bowls? His voice was high.
His eyes met hers and they began
to laugh. They laughed
until tears ran down. Then they sat quiet. Drifted back
to opposite walls.

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Herakles, Geryon’s Mother, Geryon’s Brother
Page Number: 68-69
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

Geryon’s life entered a numb time, caught between the tongue and the taste.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles, Geryon’s Brother
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:

Yellow? said Geryon and he was thinking Yellow! Yellow! Even in dreams
he doesn’t know me at all! Yellow!

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Herakles
Related Symbols: Red, Wings
Page Number: 74
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

I’m a master of monsters aren’t I?

Related Characters: Herakles (speaker), Geryon, Ancash
Related Symbols: Wings
Page Number: 129
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 38 Quotes

What Geryon was thinking Herakles never asked. In the space between them
developed a dangerous cloud.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles, Ancash, Ancash’s Mother
Related Symbols: Volcano 
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 39 Quotes

A volcano is not a mountain like others. Raising a camera to one’s face has effects
no one can calculate in advance.

Related Characters: Geryon, Herakles, Ancash, Ancash’s Mother
Related Symbols: Volcano 
Page Number: 135
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 45 Quotes

There is one thing I want from you.
Tell me.
Want to see you use those wings.

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Ancash (speaker), Herakles
Related Symbols: Wings , Volcano 
Page Number: 144
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 46 Quotes

This is for Ancash, he calls to the earth diminishing below. This is a memory of our
beauty.

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Herakles, Ancash
Related Symbols: Red, Wings , Volcano 
Page Number: 145
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 47 Quotes

We are amazing beings,
Geryon is thinking. We are neighbors of fire.
And now time is rushing towards them
where they stand side by side with arms touching, immortality on their faces, night at their back.

Related Characters: Geryon (speaker), Herakles, Ancash, Stesichoros
Related Symbols: Wings , Volcano 
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis: