110 pages • 3 hours read
Silvia Moreno-GarciaGods of Jade and Shadow
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 17-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
Vucub-Kamé visits Xtabay. He can feel his brother’s lingering presence and walks the same path along the floor Hun-Kamé did, wanting to feel their similarities and differences through their shared steps. He chastises Xtabay for failing to enthrall Hun-Kamé. Xtabay remarks that Hun-Kamé is the Lord of Xibalba, putting an extra emphasis on “the,” which reminds Vucub-Kamé “who was the firstborn child and who was the pretender, the traitor” (169).
The words unsettle Vucub-Kamé. He paces the room as he interrogates Xtabay about his brother’s visit. Xtabay reports that Hun-Kamé is turning mortal quickly and that the reflection of Casiopea was in his eye. Disturbed by this, Vucub-Kamé kills Xtabay’s pet bird to read another prophesy. He can no longer his brother’s arrival in Baja California. Instead, he sees a fleeting image of Hun-Kamé upon his throne before also seeing himself as the Lord of Xibalba. The new uncertainty unsettles him. He returns to Xibalba and sits upon his throne, pressing his hands into the stone to reassure himself “it was there, it remained his, it would not vanish” (173).
Chapter 18 Summary
Casiopea and Hun-Kamé take a train to El Paso. Aboard, they share a compartment with a single bed. Exhausted from the encounter with Xtabay, Casiopea can’t bring herself to care about sharing the bed with Hun-Kamé and falls asleep. When she wakes, Hun-Kamé is sleep. Previously, he told her that gods do not sleep like mortals, and fearful of what this means, she wakes him. Hun-Kamé is disturbed by how quickly he is turning mortal and fears how his brother will take advantage of his state. Casiopea reflects that, while Hun-Kamé grows weaker, she is dying and thinks it terribly unfair that she could get a glimpse of the world “with no chance to sample it” (176).
Casiopea asks Hun-Kamé why his brother trapped him to begin with. Hun-Kamé explains how Vucub-Kamé wishes a return to the old ways when humans prayed to Xibalba and praised its gods. Vucub-Kamé found another point of power in Mexico and believed it could be tethered to Xibalba to return the kingdom to its former glory. Hun-Kamé did not want to upset the world’s natural order, and he vowed to make Vucub-Kamé suffer for the torment he placed upon him.
Casiopea asks why Vucub-Kamé is so destructive. Vucub-Kamé wants the power to make humans burn down the world in his honor. These images frighten Casiopea, but Hun-Kamé tells her not to worry. He will take care of Vucub-Kamé, and Casiopea will be rewarded for her assistance and get what she most desires. Casiopea pictures swimming in the ocean beneath the stars and being free to live her life, but when she looks at Hun-Kamé, the joy of those things feels muted.
A bit later, they go to the dining car for breakfast. Hun-Kamé tells Casiopea he dreamed of her walking the Black Road of Xibalba. The dream unsettled him because he wants no harm to come to her, so he changes the subject to describe the beautiful mountains of his kingdom. The two smile at one another, and Hun-Kamé looks at Casiopea “as if he’d not truly seen her before. And maybe, he had not” (186).
Chapter 19 Summary
In El Paso, Texas, Casiopea and Hun-Kamé search for the Uay Chivo, who has the next piece of Hun-Kamé’s essence. They find a witch who will give them information in exchange for Casiopea’s blood. Again, Casiopea is upset about being the one required to make sacrifices. Hun-Kamé reminds her that he’ll reward her with whatever she desires, and Casiopea clamps her mouth closed before asking “what if she couldn’t have what she wanted” (191).
For the location of the Uay Chivo, the price is seven drops of Casiopea’s blood—seven hours of dreams. Casiopea pays the price, and the witch gives her a lavender rose. Casiopea doesn’t know what the rose is for, but before she can ask, she falls asleep.
Chapter 20 Summary
Casiopea dreams she is on the Black Road of Xibalba. The road turns to blood, and she sinks into it, fearing the Lord of Xibalba, Vucub-Kamé, is coming for her. Gasping, she wakes to Hun-Kamé sitting at her bedside. Hun-Kamé got the location of the Uay Chivo from the witch. Casiopea wants to leave immediately. Hun-Kamé tells her to rest, saying they can go tomorrow, to which Casiopea replies, “tomorrow I might be dead” (199).
The ache in Casiopea’s hand has gotten worse and now extends to her head. When she gets impatient with Hun-Kamé for looking so healthy, he tells her that he doesn’t feel well at all and that he sometimes forgets everything about himself. Casiopea worries about him, but Hun-Kamé wonders if forgetting his origins would be a good thing. He runs two fingers delicately over Casiopea’s hair and tells her “I’d like to count stars with you” (203). Then, he abruptly leaves to let her rest.
Chapter 21 Summary
Martín arrives in Baja California and meets with Aníbal Zavala, a sorcerer and associate of Vucub-Kamé’s. Zavala shows him a picture of Xibalba and explains the mechanics of the Underworld—its nine levels and how it may take a mortal years to walk the Black Road through all nine to the jade palace. Since they don’t have years, Zavala will teach Martín to slip through the shadows and take shortcuts.
Within the book, the picture of the road begins to shift, frightening Martín. He doesn’t understand why he is there and acts impetuous to cover up his terror. Zavala sees through Martín’s bravado. Martín is but a piece on the playing board of the gods, and he will play his part to ensure Vucub-Kamé’s victory. Zavala opens a path to the Black Road and steps onto it. Martín follows, as afraid as when he was a child and thought monsters were under his bed. Now, he realizes there are monsters “and he assisted them” (210).
Chapters 17-21 Analysis
These chapters show the main characters beginning to lose themselves and let down their defenses. Casiopea is exhausted and no longer worries about her past. She has experienced things she never thought possible, and the knowledge makes the strict teachings of the church in her hometown feel meaningless. Where once she would have been afraid to share a bed or travel with a strange man, those fears are small compared to what lies ahead on her quest. Similarly, Vucub-Kamé changes, becoming more frightened than he feels a god should be. While his victory was once assured, Vucub-Kamé’s position as Lord of Xibalba is uncertain. Like a child, he worries that his prized possession will be taken away. His death-grip on his throne is a show of desperation, not a show of power.
Hun-Kamé and Martín are also changing. Hun-Kamé sleeps for the first time in his life. Gods do not typically dream, but he does now, and his dream is a nightmare about Casiopea upon the Black Road of Xibalba. Both his and Casiopea’s dreams foreshadow the impending race along the Black Road. They also mirror the struggles Martín faces to please Vucub-Kamé in Baja California. Martín is neither a warrior nor a champion. He fears Vucub-Kamé and is determined to do whatever it takes to never see the god again.
To gain information, Casiopea sacrifices her blood and seven hours of her time. She has already sacrificed the only life she knew and her hair, and she is frustrated with Hun-Kamé because he never makes these kinds of sacrifices. In earlier chapters, Hun-Kamé explained that gods do not make sacrifices, but it is unclear whether gods do not, cannot, or will not do this. It is possible that, as a god, Hun-Kamé’s sacrifices would have no power because of the power dynamic between humans and gods: a god could not make a sacrifice to himself. Humans make sacrifices, and gods receive them. He tells Casiopea that sacrificing is not his responsibility, and there may be irreversible negative consequences if Hun-Kamé disrupts the natural order and sacrifices pieces of himself.
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