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 22-25Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 22 Summary
The next night, Casiopea and Hun-Kamé sneak into the Uay Chivo’s house. The witch told Hun-Kamé his necklace is within a safe with three locks. Hun-Kamé opens the final one and finds nothing. Two men arrive, one of whom is the Uay Chivo; he is wearing the necklace. The Uay Chivo hurls a ball of fire at Hun-Kamé, knocking him down, and the Uay Chivo and his men cast a circle of fire around Hun-Kamé and Casiopea. Hun-Kamé taunts the Uay Chivo, saying his magic looks weak and won’t hold out for long. The Uay Chivo retorts that he doesn’t have to hold Hun-Kamé forever: “I only have to slow you down” (216). The he leaves, limping from the strain of the magic.
To escape the ring of fire, Hun-Kamé turns invisible, and Casiopea yells that he managed to escape. A guard rushes in to check, and Hun-Kamé drags the man into the fire, breaking the circle and eliminating the fire. They find the Uay Chivo in his bedchamber, and he turns into a giant fire-breathing goat to attack them. After a struggle, Hun-Kamé beheads the Uay Chivo and retrieves the necklace.
Chapter 23 Summary
Hun-Kamé and Casiopea take a train to Tijuana, sleeping for most of the journey. When they wake, Casiopea is nervous, and Hun-Kamé stares straight ahead, sitting stiffly. Casiopea tries to find out what is troubling him, but he changes the subject, instead talking about how he feels like he is fading and that his brother tricked him. Finally, Casiopea realizes that he is afraid. Hun-Kamé refuses to admit it, and Casiopea drags him to the train’s observation car for a change of place.
Casiopea admits that she daydreams about riding in an automobile with Hun-Kamé. He presses his forehead to hers, and they are quiet for a long moment. Finally, Hun-Kamé says, “I like your daydreams, dear girl” and then pulls away (231), leaving Casiopea to sigh.
Chapter 24 Summary
Vucub-Kamé walks in one of Xibalba’s many gardens. He is still unsettled by what he last saw in the prophecies, and he contemplates the effect of chaos on his plans. Zavala and Martín arrive and report that Martín is making progress in learning to walk the Black Road. Vucub-Kamé orders them to receive Casiopea and Hun-Kamé and escort them to Baja California. Zavala and Martín agree and then take their leave, fearful of Vucub-Kamé’s discontent.
Earlier that day, Vucub-Kamé’s owl brought him two more shells holding the sounds of Casiopea and Hun-Kamé’s sighs. Vucub-Kamé heard longing and heartache in both, and he divined that he could not win Casiopea with bobbles and riches: The only prize that might sway her is Hun-Kamé. Similarly, Hun-Kamé’s sigh shows his increasing mortality and also that his “immortality weighed on him” (238). Vucub-Kamé returns to his palace, knowing how he will destroy his brother and Casiopea.
Chapter 25 Summary
The train arrives in Tijuana, where Casiopea and Hun-Kamé stay one night. Casiopea dreams of her bones being trapped beneath Vucub-Kamé’s throne and screams so loud that Hun-Kamé rushes in from his adjoining hotel room. She tells him about the dream and her fears of dying without doing the things she wishes to do. Even though she’s afraid, she vows to see the endeavor through, and after they’ve won, “we’ll laugh at all the trials we went through” (244).
Casiopea’s mention of them laughing together unsettles Hun-Kamé. He warns her that, once he’s a god again, he will be different, and Casiopea realizes that the person he is now is not who he truly is. Hun-Kamé promises to still give her jewels as repayment for her aid. Casiopea laughs bitterly because she never wanted jewels, and Hun-Kamé obviously “didn’t know her one bit” (245).
Chapters 22-25 Analysis
In Mayan mythology, the Uay Chivo is half-man, half-beast (often a goat, but sometimes a dog or deer) that is said to feast on livestock. Its name combines Spanish and Yucatec Mayan terms, “uay” meaning sorcerer or spirit and “chivo” meaning goat. In Gods of Jade and Shadow, the Uay Chivo appears as an older man who performs power beyond his capabilities, as evidenced by how he is weakened after casting the fire trap. Like Cirilo, he elevates himself by instilling fear in others and by attaining favor from those stronger than him. Both the Uay Chivo and Cirilo possess mediocre talent that they hide behind bravado and boasting.
Hun-Kamé’s growing humanity comes to a head in these chapters. He realizes that he has transformed more than he expected, to the point where he wonders whether it is worth defeating Vucub-Kamé. His love for Casiopea frightens him, as does the thought of living without her, and both are as equally frightening as what could become of the world under Vucub-Kamé’s control. Hun-Kamé grapples with his godly nature to take what he believes is owed him and with his human thoughts about happiness without total power.
While Hun-Kamé grapples with his growing humanity, Vucub-Kamé sees his brother’s humanity as a way to exploit him. Vucub-Kamé still clings to the ideal of gaining total control over Xibalba. He doesn’t yet understand that there is anything greater than being worshipped. Where Hun-Kamé sees the beauty in human emotions, Vucub-Kamé sees only unpredictability, volatility, and weakness.
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