We Hunt the Flame

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2019

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Epigraph-Act 1

Act 2, Chapters 23-50

Act 2, Chapters 51-63

Act 3-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Zafira’s Cloak

Throughout We Hunt the Flame, Zafira’s cloak symbolizes her struggle with her gender identity and sense of self. She inherited the cloak from her father and wears it to disguise herself as a man—the Hunter—so she can hunt in the Arz. On one hand, wearing the cloak enables Zafira to provide for her loved ones and find a sense of freedom. On the other hand, this identity was forced on her by necessity and conceals her true self.

Without her cloak, Zafira knows her home of Demenhur—in which women are treated as lesser—would punish her. As a result, the young woman wears the cloak like armor, to hide her physical and emotional vulnerability. She publicly removes it for the first time in front of Demenhur’s caliph, in defiance of his misogynistic rule. However, when Deen suggests she get rid of the cloak altogether, Zafira hesitates.

On Sharr, Zafira initially refuses to take off her cloak, despite the heat and the fact that Nasir and Altair already know she’s a girl. She stubbornly claims “she wouldn’t be bested by a cloak. She could endure a little heat” (202), but eventually faints due to heatstroke. From then on, Zafira stops wearing her cloak out of practicality, which parallels her growing more comfortable with herself. The narrative occasionally references the cloak to illustrate Zafira’s state of mind: For example, “Without the shelter of her cloak, every brush of [Nasir] against her felt as if she were wholly bare” (257).

After Zafira and Nasir escape the Lion of the Night’s palace, their conversation shows that the prince understands the significance of her cloak: “‘I couldn’t find your cloak,’ he said softly. […] ‘I don’t need it anymore, I suppose,” she conceded’ (393). In the end, Zafira realizes she doesn’t need her cloak, her “barrier” and “cherished blanket” (286). Instead, she is able to reconcile her identities as the Hunter and a young woman after travelling with the zumra and being exposed to more of the world.

Compasses

Compasses are a significant motif that take two forms in the story: Zafira’s role as a da’ira (someone with the magical ability to navigate anywhere) and Nasir’s magical compass. They are used to develop the idea of finding one’s way, both physically and metaphorically. Both Benyamin and the Silver Witch state, almost like a prophecy: “You will always find your way, Zafira bint Iskandar” (10, 247). The Silver Witch, however, points out that Zafira’s affinity may feel like a curse at times, foreshadowing the latter’s moral dilemma on whether to embrace or reject the Lion of the Night’s darkness. Eventually, Zafira’s self-doubt leads her to lose her grip on her ability and state that “She had always been on a steady journey toward finding herself lost” (346).

Nasir is given a literal magical compass by the Silver Witch before he heads for Sharr. She tells him that it will “help [him] find what [he desires] most” (123), which Nasir takes to mean the lost Jawarat. However, once on Sharr, he realizes that the compass always points to Zafira. When Zafira goes missing, Nasir even laments that “they [are] without a compass to help them find their compass” (357) before remembering to use his own magical artifact. Nasir’s compass symbolizes his desire for freedom and friendship by always pointing to his love interest. The prince even implies as much when he rescues Zafira from the Lion: “I didn’t want to lose my compass” (392). Zafira is as much Nasir’s emotional and moral compass as she is his guide on Sharr. Furthermore, her ability to discern between truth and lies, light and darkness, allows her to find her own way in the world.

Darkness’s Call

Darkness contributes to the characterization of both Zafira and Nasir. The protagonists experience darkness physically, as a force that drives them forward, and symbolically, as a manifestation of their fears. At first, Zafira and Nasir struggle to reject this darkness, but slowly learn to embrace and use it. This shared struggle highlights their similarities as well as their respective moral dilemmas.

Zafira becomes aware of the darkness’s appeal while she hunts in the Arz: “There was a pulse deep inside her that relished those visits into the depths of darkness. She hated the Arz. She hated it so much, she craved it” (5). She doesn’t realize until later that this pull is the Lion of the Night working to bring her to Sharr. Although she is afraid of the darkness, Zafira learns to use it to her advantage. When the zumra fights the ifrit, she follows her father’s advice: “Zafira breathed the darkness. She was the darkness” (268). Symbolically, she learns to accept her doubts and fears as a vital part of herself.

The Sultan repeatedly tells Nasir that “darkness is [his] destiny” (v, 339, 379, 423), suggesting that he is doomed to fall under the Lion’s control. When Nasir states that “The darkness speaks to those who listen. [...] Those who listen are those who’ve accepted the darkness” (423), he is expressing his fear of being beyond redemption. However, this also suggests that the Lion only has power over those vulnerable to his deceit. As a result, Nasir gains control over the darkness once he breaks free from his father’s influence: “He could wield the dark as if it belonged to him” (379). He reclaims the identity thrust upon him by his father—that of an assassin—by turning to his new friends for strength and purpose.

Despite starting out as enemies, Zafira and Nasir are connected by their fear of the dark—which is actually the machination of their true enemy, the Lion. However, as the Lion himself explains, “Darkness is the absence of light, the mere reason light exists. Without darkness, light would have no confines” (355). Rather than falling into the Lion’s trap, Zafira and Nasir learn to reclaim darkness and gain control over it. Zafira becomes able to see through the dark, and Nasir realizes he can wield darkness as a weapon.