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 considers that the photograph he took of Herakles’s back doesn’t actually depict “old times.” He gets out of bed and walks into the hotel garden. Ancash is there, sitting on a bench. Geryon says good morning, but Ancash ignores him. Suddenly, their eyes meet, and Ancash hits Geryon across his face. He hits him again, this time with the other hand, impressing Geryon with his ambidextrousness. Geryon doesn’t hit him back.
Geryon’s unwillingness to believe that the photo he took of Geryon’s back depicts “old times” reflects his unwillingness to let go of Herakles. He wants to believe that Herakles’s cruelty now is different than it was when they were younger. He wants at least to have an untarnished memory of their young romance. His acceptance of Ancash’s violence toward him, though, implies that he is aware, if only consciously, that he is being foolish in pursuing Herakles: that Herakles has never been capable of giving Herakles the love he desires.
Themes
After a pause, Ancash instructs Geryon to sit next to him on the bench. He asks Geryon if Geryon loves Herakles. Geryon pauses before explaining that he loves the old Herakles who only exists in his dreams—the Herakles he used to know. Ancash asks what it’s like having sex with Herakles now, and Geryon admits that it’s “degrading” before apologizing to Ancash.
Geryon remains unwilling to fully admit that Herakles was never a good partner to him, yet he does admit that sex with Herakles is “degrading,” and that he loves the Herakles who has only ever existed in his dreams. This implies that he’s gradually accepting that his love for Herakles has been a projection of his desire to be loved rather than actual, reciprocal love between the two of them.
Themes
Ancash says nothing and gets up. He begins to walk away but turns around to tell Geryon that the only thing he wants from Geryon is “to see [Geryon] use those wings.” Geryon and Ancash stare at each other until Herakles emerges, extroverted and bold as ever. Herakles notices the tense mood in the air as Ancash silently returns to the hotel. Herakles tells Geryon it’s time to travel to the volcano. Geryon looks at his face, which is white and resembles an old man’s face. Later on, as he develops the photograph of Herakles’s back, Geryon decides that the photograph “is a photograph of the future.” He feels that he is “watching likeness come groping out of the bones.”
Ancash’s wish for Geryon to “use those wings” means he wants to see Geryon recognize and embrace his inner life. That Ancash wants to see Geryon use his wings is an important word choice, pointing to the fact that it’s as important for Geryon to physically show himself to others and be seen in their eyes as it is for him to accept himself on his own. Geryon’s final realization that the photograph of Herakles’s back is “of the future” shows that he is coming to terms with the end of their romance. The photograph manipulates time to show the decline of the affair. It allows him to self-reflect and get over Herakles, which he is not able to do in normal life when he is so wrapped up in passion.
Themes
