The Flamethrowers

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2013

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-8

Chapters 9-14

Chapters 15-20

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Themes

Life Is About Being an Active Participant, Not a Passive Observer

The experience of grabbing life and throwing yourself into it is an urgent priority throughout The Flamethrowers. All the characters appear to be living in their own selfish bubbles, which ultimately signifies the need to simultaneously be a part of the world while protecting yourself from it. Reno learns the hard way how important it is to embrace life. Due to her significant youth and lack of experience, her new social circle in New York is intimidating and difficult to keep up with. Reno takes a step back, allowing Sandro to play her navigator through the new world. Although it is very much indicative of her identity as an artist, Reno observes this world in New York rather than actively creating a role for herself. She repeats this pattern in Italy. At the Valeras’ villa, she holds herself back from engaging with Sandro’s mother and cousin Talia, two intimidating women, because she finds them easier to watch and listen to. When she flees to Rome with Gianni, she allows Bene and Gianni to replace Sandro as her navigators. Although she participates in the march and in helping Gianni escape, she doesn’t really know what she’s getting herself into. Instead, she follows the crowd.

In juxtaposition with Reno, Ronnie and Giddle may be eccentric liars, but they at least advocate for their own version of their lives. They make their lives what they want them to be, instead of expecting things to simply happen to them. Ronnie and Giddle are certainly not better, more well-rounded characters than Reno. Kushner isn’t presenting Ronnie as an admirable foil to Reno. Instead, Kushner advocates for an exciting middle ground in which watching and waiting can be productive, but so is actively participating in the formation of your own life.

Reno’s attitude is also contrasted with that of Valera, who is as much an active participant in life as a person can be. Yet the problem with Valera is that his enthusiasm is rooted in toxic masculinity, going back to the resentment he felt when the French girl rejected him. As a result, Valera becomes complicit in various atrocities, including the exploitation of Indigenous workers in South America. This complicity also extends after his death, with regards to the exploitation of workers in Italy in the 1970s. Thus, embracing life’s possibilities, though urgent, can cause enormous damage when these efforts center around amassing profits without considering moral or ethical concerns.

Coming of Age as a Woman Is Challenging but Empowering

Reno is, in essence, a feminist character coming of age during a time in which women are still widely treated as decoration to a man’s more interesting life. Reno is treated by most characters as little more than a pretty and young girl at the mercy of narcissistic men and more confident women. But Reno is so much more than that. She subverts typical ideas of a 1970s American woman in her racing ability, hawk-eyed observations of the people around her, and passion for motorcycles. Reno wants connection, love, and sex, but not at the cost of her own thirst for adventure. She is progressive and seduced by danger. She must combat multiple men who talk about women as useless creatures with far less capabilities than their male counterparts. Rather than fighting with arguments or going for shock value, like Talia, Reno prefers to find her own inner empowerment as a woman, as a way of rejecting the misogynistic standards men place upon her. If Reno can feel proud of herself, happy with herself, and inspired by herself, then she knows it won’t matter what men say about her. Furthermore, she sees the weaknesses in the men who lead her. She notices Sandro’s fear, Burdmoore’s psychotic loneliness, and the many degrading things that other men say about women to make themselves feel better. Essentially, she sees men as both interesting and pathetic, which gives her the freedom to pursue feminism.

Reno blazes her own trail as an artist too. Her bohemian friends in New York believe she is out of place, as a Westerner who travels East for fame and connections. This incongruity is expressed by the fact that everyone—even the author—simply calls her “Reno,” rather than her full name. As she navigates the New York art world, her inspiration remains firmly out West in the salt flats, which sets her apart from both the men and women she runs with.

Rules Are Meant to Be Broken

The Flamethrowers examines a moment in time as a way of exploring the societal rules that ought to be challenged and overthrown. Revolution, both on the individual and community level, is the motivation behind every chapter. Each character, whether primary or secondary, beats to the sound of their own drum. They internalize societal standards while simultaneously rebelling against them. Valera begins this cycle by overthrowing the expectations of his high-class family and embracing the motorcycle gangster lifestyle. Giddle rejects the standard pathways for women by forming her own realities. Ronnie pushes back against his difficult childhood and outsider status by embracing irony to an almost psychotic degree. Sandro turns his back on his family. Reno transforms her life over and over again. Gianni gives up his life for the pursuit of freedom. Imperfect as they are, these characters embody Kushner’s message to ignore that which does not serve you. There are many valid and interesting ways of living life, Kushner argues, so there’s no need to succumb to the idea that there is one correct way of doing things. The people who do follow the rules, such as Roberto, end up dead.

This rejection of the status quo is what connects the book’s two major contemporary settings: the New York art world in the 1970s, and the revolutionary workers’ rights movement in Italy of the same era. Although the stakes are arguably much lower, the art world in New York in the 1970s was an arena of unprecedented experimentation and adventurousness. This largely grew out of the relatively cheap rents and abandoned warehouses that gave artists’ plenty of space to operate without being completely beholden to economic pressures. In an interview with NPR, Kushner says “a lot of people also making work that wasn't even meant to be sellable. Some works were just gestures, you know, like a dance performance in a warehouse or on a roof.” (“Art, Chaos, and 1970s Radicalism Fuel ‘The Flamethrowers.’ NPR. 2013 Mar. 13. https://www.npr.org/2013/03/31/175829148/1970s-chaos-and-radicalism-fuels-flamethrowers.) In turn, the so-called “Movement of 77” in Italy was even more radical than the student protests of the previous decade, in that they represented a split from all institutions, including political parties on the Left. Thus, by choosing these two settings for her novel, Kushner celebrates rule-breaking in its purest forms.