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
This photograph depicts two burros grazing in a field. Geryon considers the burros, which are all there is to see outside his car window. Geryon and Ancash’s mother are waiting in the car. The police have taken Ancash and Herakles into a small adobe house somewhere down the road. Ancash’s mother mutters angrily under her breath. She seems bolder than usual today, which inspires Geryon to ask, “What is it about burros?” Ancash’s mother replies, “Guess they’re waiting to inherit the earth,” and she laughs. Her laugh stays in Geryon’s mind for the remainder of the day.
Geryon fixates on the burros because he relates to them, feeling as unwanted and outcast as these forlorn, grazing animals. Ancash’s mother jokingly references the Beatitudes from the Christian Bible when she muses that the burros are “waiting to inherit the earth.” This particular line claims that the meek are blessed and will “inherit the earth.” Ancash’s mother’s joke forces Geryon to reconsider his plight. Perhaps his differences aren’t a symptom of his wretchedness but evidence that he is deserving of redemption and renewal. This might foreshadow Geryon’s eventual affirmation of self and coming to terms with his monstrosity.
Themes
