The Volcano
The image of the volcano recurs throughout the novel, beginning with the image on the cover of the book and the poem about "the reticent volcano" by Emily Dickinson which is the epigraph of the section “Autobiography of Red: A Romance.” Later in the story, Herakles takes Geryon to a volcano near his house in Hades, and, as the novel ends, Herakles and Geryon again stand at a volcano, this time in South America. The volcano is an ambiguous symbol with a variety of associations in this story. Like this novel, volcanoes bridge the ancient and modern world, existing through long-scale geographic time. They are a source of birth and destruction, danger and creation. As Herakles visits volcanoes around the world during his relationship with Geryon and then his relationship with Ancash, their bright explosiveness becomes linked to Herakles’ romantic passions, and the creative and destructive capacity of love.
Food Between Geryon and His Mother
One of the most in-depth descriptions in the novel is found in the meal young Geryon shares with his mother. The image of "cling peaches from the can and toast/cut into fingers for dipping" is vividly tactile. The dinner represents the nurturing relationship that Geryon and his mother share when he is very young. Later, in contrast, the barren fruit bowl on the kitchen table, which is revealed to have always been empty, stands in for his mother’s failure to protect Geryon from his brother’s abuse.
The Tomato Sculpture
As a young artist, Geryon plays with a variety of autobiographic mediums and formats before settling on photography. In one scene, he begins to glue objects onto a tomato, while his mother smokes cigarettes and talks on the phone. He glues one of her cigarettes onto the tomato, and later attaches "pieces of crispy paper" that he believes look likes hair (35). It's a bizarre and humorous image, representing Geryon's avid imagination and willingness to experiment, as well as his skewed self-perception as a “red” and “monstrous” boy. When Geryon's mother finishes on the phone, she compliments his work, in another show of her affection for her son. She jokes, however, that next time he should use a "one-dollar bill instead of a ten" which reveals that the "pieces of crispy paper" were actually money (35). It's a loving scene that demonstrates Carson's sense of humor.
Cigarettes
The image of Geryon's mother smoking cigarettes recurs throughout the novel. In nearly every scene where she is present, there is a cigarette in her hand, such as during the interview with Geryon's teacher when he sees her "pick a fragment of tobacco off her tongue" (38). While she expresses a desire to quit smoking, she still continues. The image of Geryon's mother with a cigarette portrays her as a distracted, anxious woman who uses cigarettes to calm and soothe her. Similarly, the ash and smoke are connected to the image of the volcano in the novel, and its alluring and destructive capacity.
