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 33-35Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 33 Summary
Casiopea crests a hill and sees the Jade Palace. As she gazes at it, Martín arrives. He begs and demands Casiopea give up. She refuses, and he attacks her. Tired, desperate, and disheveled, he looks more terrifying than “a monster from the myth” (310). Unable to kill her, Martín pushes her down a hill and runs off. When Casiopea recovers, she finds the road has vanished.
Without a plan, Casiopea starts walking. The further she goes, the more her memory fades, and she starts to forget her past. Rather than being a young woman on a quest, she believes she has grown old and bitter in her grandfather’s house. She recalls a line from a poem she told Hun-Kamé, and her memories return to her. The landscape changes, and suddenly, she is in a salt quarry with mountains in the distance and colorful fish flying overhead.
She sits by a pure blue lake. Somehow, she can feel Martín’s progress along the Black Road. Casiopea takes out her knife and wades into the lake. She knows she cannot win but refuses to let Vucub-Kamé claim the victory without a fight. She recalls standing in the ocean with Hun-Kamé and realizes he loves her. She loves him, too and pledges herself to him, slicing herself across the throat. She sinks into the lake. In both Earth and the Underworld, the world stops and then begins to shake, “as if the land opened its lips and breathed again, and was made anew” (318). Although she does not know it, her sacrifice sparks the beginning of an entirely new era.
Chapter 34 Summary
Vucub-Kamé, Hun-Kamé, Zavala, and Martín come to the lake where Casiopea killed herself. It is the lake at the base of the World Tree, which means Casiopea reached the tree first and won the race. The Great Kaiman, a creature sacrificed long ago, rises from the lake and lays Casiopea’s body on the land. Hun-Kamé brushes his finger over the gash in her neck, and the wound heals. Casiopea resurrects, and Vucub-Kamé returns Hun-Kamé’s eye to him before kneeling to await his punishment. Rather than behead his brother, Hun-Kamé offers Vucub-Kamé his former place in the palace because, though they have been terrible to one another, Hun-Kamé “cannot perpetuate a cycle of sorrows” (322).
Hun-Kamé brings Casiopea to the edge of Xibalba, where they say goodbye. He kisses her and then removes the bone shard from her hand. Rather than destroying his heart, his love for her takes root behind his eyes. His awakened love prompts flowers grow in Xibalba for the first time. Hun-Kamé wraps her in his cloak, and instantly Casiopea finds herself back in her hotel room, alone.
Chapter 35 Summary
Nearby, Martín weeps, fearful of what their grandfather will do to him. Casiopea offers him a towel to dry his tears and sits beside him. Martín doesn’t want to go home but knows he must. Casiopea suggests that he take his time on the journey. They say goodbye, and their reconciliation gives Casiopea more satisfaction “than any elaborate revenge fantasy she could have conjured” (329).
The next morning, Casiopea leaves the hotel and asks for a car to take her to the nearby city. When the car arrives, Loray is in the driver’s seat. Casiopea doesn’t trust him, but not having another option, she gets in the car. Loray asks where Casiopea is going. She doesn’t know, and he offers to take her on a journey with no clear. Casiopea is nervous, but she realizes that she is now in the world of the living, and “in the world of the living, one must live” (333). She agrees to help read maps if Loray teaches her to drive. The two switch seats, and Casiopea drives them down the road to their unknown destination.
Chapters 33-35 Analysis
Casiopea’s sacrifice in Chapter 33 completes her growth arc as a hero. She is willing to sacrifice her life to save the world, which foreshadows her rebirth, one of the final steps in the hero’s journey narrative. It isn’t made clear how she gets to the lake after losing the Black Road. It may be that remembering her mission brought her there because she was worthy, or it is possible her strength in overcoming Xibalba’s tricks marked her as the winner and transported her to the World Tree. In Mayan myth, human sacrifice was the ultimate blood offering to the gods. Decapitation was the standard method, and Moreno-Garcia updates the myth by having Casiopea cut her own throat.
Casiopea’s death allows the land of Xibalba to be renewed and Hun-Kamé to return to godhood. Even as a god, Hun-Kamé remains changed. He no longer wishes to torment Vucub-Kamé, and in allowing his brother back into the palace, Hun-Kamé ushers in a new era of tolerance among the gods. Hun-Kamé also retains his ability to love and be loved by Casiopea although she is no longer part of his world. The growth of flowers in Xibalba shows that life has infiltrated the realm of the dead and that Hun-Kamé’s heart has irrevocably changed.
Chapter 35 shows Casiopea and Martín parting on amicable terms. Outside the confines of their grandfather’s house, they realize the futility of their power struggle. Martín is no longer intent on returning to his old life. The adventure has changed him, and he now possesses the knowledge and ability to find his place in the world. Martín’s transformation is a commentary on the system of inherited wealth. As in Moreno-Garcia’s other novels, those who remain tethered to their family lineage eventually decay like the houses they inhabit. Moreno-Garcia portrays inherited wealth in Mexico as a remnant of colonialism, and the victory of the Mayan gods symbolizes the need for Mexico to place more value on its indigenous roots.
The final image of Casiopea driving into the unknown symbolizes her freedom to live her life on her terms. In 1920s Mexico, women rarely controlled their lives, being bound to traditional roles that centered on their families. Moreno-Garcia’s female protagonists always challenge accepted gender norms, and her narratives that blend realism, science fiction, and fantasy symbolize society’s ability to change.
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