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 26-29Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 26 Summary
The next morning, Casiopea and Hun-Kamé find Martín outside the hotel. Martín is there to take them to Baja California, and since it doesn’t matter if they go with him, Casiopea and Hun-Kamé accept the offer. When they arrive, they check into the grandest hotel in the city. The beauty and the closeness of the ocean overtake Casiopea, but Hun-Kamé recognizes the structure for what it is: the other point of power his brother wishes to connect to Xibalba. Hun-Kamé smiles, thinking about how he will enjoy his brother’s torment when he tears the hotel apart. Casiopea realizes that gods “can be as petty as men” (251).
Casiopea asks what Vucub-Kamé was like before the siblings fought. Hun-Kamé explains that Vucub-Kamé resented him and did not show deference when he should have. Casiopea sees similarities between Vucub-Kamé and herself, as well as between Hun-Kamé and Martín, and she wonders if Vucub-Kamé felt hurt by his lower status. Hun-Kamé says he could have no more denied his godly nature than nature could change itself and admits that Casiopea makes him wish to be kinder, a softer person. Even as Casiopea appreciates this, she sees the ruthlessness of his desire to rule Xibalba. Hun-Kamé ends the chapter with a final warning that Vucub-Kamé will try to trick them and tells Casiopea, “Remain at my side, no matter if he threatens or flatters” (254). She agrees.
Chapter 27 Summary
Martín appeals to Casiopea again to speak with Vucub-Kamé. He explains the impending race along the Black Road and how Vucub-Kamé will offer her something—he doesn’t know what—instead of the race. Martín asks if she recalls the day that he was expelled from school years ago when their grandfather told Casiopea he wished she was a boy. That moment made Martín realize he’d never be good enough, and ever since then, he’s hidden his fear under bravado. Now, he is terrified of what the gods are planning and admits to Casiopea that “I want to go home” (260).
At one point during the conversation, Martín brushes the ring he wears from Vucub-Kamé. The god speaks through him. He tells Casiopea to consider wisely both what she might gain from helping him and also what she might lose from disobeying. He shows her horrific visions of how she might die and then loses his ability to control Martín, leaving both Martín and Casiopea shaken. Martín makes one last attempt to convince Casiopea to join Vucub-Kamé. She refuses and leaves. In her absence, Martín tries to convince himself that everything is Casiopea’s fault, and that he “did a good job of it, even if his hands shook” (262).
Chapter 28 Summary
That night, Casiopea and Hun-Kamé meet Martín and Zavala in the elegant hotel ballroom. Zavala proposes the terms of conflict between Hun-Kamé and Vucub-Kamé. Rather than a battle or game as in the old days, Vucub-Kamé suggests a race between Casiopea and Martín, and “whoever walks the Black Road and reaches the World Tree in the heart of Xibalba first wins” (268). If Casiopea wins, Hun-Kamé will retake his throne and earn the right to cut off Vucub-Kamé’s head. If Martín wins, Hun-Kamé shall lose his head, and Casiopea will be sentenced to an eternal afterlife in the Razor House, where knives fly through the air and slice the flesh of anyone inside.
Hun-Kamé agrees to meet his brother to discuss the alternative. Ill at ease, Casiopea drags Hun-Kamé to the dance floor, where she explains her fear and her earlier conversation with Martín. She wishes only to keep dancing because she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to refuse Vucub-Kamé when they go upstairs. She catches a glimpse of herself and Hun-Kamé in a mirror. He gazes at her with eagerness, and the chapter with him telling her, “I wish we could keep dancing” (271).
Chapter 29 Summary
Finally, Hun-Kamé and Casiopea go upstairs to meet with Vucub-Kamé. Casiopea is struck by how the brothers both resemble and do not resemble one another. Vucub-Kamé argues that Hun-Kamé is trapped in the past and that they deserve to be worshipped. Hun-Kamé dismisses his words, much to Vucub-Kamé’s annoyance.
As an alternative to the contest, Vucub-Kamé offers Hun-Kamé and Casiopea a chance to be reborn as humans. If they both sacrifice themselves to him, he can revive them in the mortal world while he reigns over Xibalba. They would be alive and together as the people they are now. Though the Black Road frightens Casiopea, his offer seems like a trap, and “she could not agree to [it]” (278). She and Hun-Kamé argue for an hour, considering the option. Annoyed, Vucub-Kamé accepts and disappears.
Chapters 26-29 Analysis
In Chapter 26, Hun-Kamé’s explanation of his relationship with his brother before their break reaffirms that gods and men are not as dissimilar as they seem. Hun-Kamé would get annoyed with Vucub-Kamé for not showing proper deference or respect, the same things for which Grandfather would punish Casiopea and her mother. Casiopea draws similarities between herself and Vucub-Kamé—both trapped by someone who perceives their status as inferior to their own. Conversely, she compares Hun-Kamé to Martín and how both use their perceived elevated status to oppress those around them. Hun-Kamé argues he cannot deny his nature, but if gods and men are more similar than different, it may be that Hun-Kamé could deny his nature but is unwilling or unsure how to do so.
Chapter 27 shows that Martín has changed. While being out in the world has allowed Casiopea to grow and thrive, prolonged exposure to uncomfortable situations has made Martín realize just how small and unprepared he is for the greater world. Rather than rising to the occasion, Martín wishes to return to familiar people and comforts. Unlike Casiopea, he cannot or will not contemplate anything beyond his narrow understanding of the world, even though wider world lies before him. While Martín has changed, part of him remains the same, as shown by how he tries to blame Casiopea at the end of the chapter. Unlike before, he knows that everything is not her fault, which is shown by how he shakes—something he never used to do.
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By Silvia Moreno-Garcia
