Who Said We Are Related To Animals

Throughout We The Animals, Torres occasionally likens the characters to animals, using this metaphor equally a fashion of representing their relationship with masculinity. In particular, he often describes Paps in animalistic terms, framing him equally a potent, instinctive person who gives himself over to the kind of aggression and wildness frequently associated with the natural world and the animal kingdom. Manny and Joel match this animalistic intensity, conspicuously believing that this is what it means to be a human. The narrator, nonetheless, doesn't ever align with this style of moving through the world, since he doesn't share his father'due south and brothers' macho disposition. And yet, the concluding chapter describes him as living in a zoo surrounded by other animals. This implies that the narrator is an animal, despite the fact that he's different from his brothers and father. If being an animal represents masculinity, then, this means that there's more than just one iteration of the male person identity. Unfortunately for the narrator, though, he lives in captivity with his boyfriend animals, ultimately suggesting that his version of manhood is not yet widely accepted past social club, which favors his family's stereotypical conception of what it means to exist a human.

Animals Quotes in Nosotros the Animals

The We the Animals quotes beneath all refer to the symbol of Animals. For each quote, you can too run into the other characters and themes related to information technology (each theme is indicated past its ain dot and icon, like this one:

I yelled for them to stop, that'south all I did, yelled that one word over and over, stop, terminate, stop. I idea of Ma, whispering that aforementioned stop, stop, stop to our father. Manny sucked down the snot from his nose into his throat and spat a lugie in Joel's confront, and the fungus slid off, similar egg yolk.

"Animals," said Old Homo, "animals."

Page Number and Citation: 37

Explanation and Analysis:

So we were all three kicking and slapping at once, and they didn't say a word, they didn't even motility; the only racket was the noise of pare and impact and breath, and then our protests, why don't you come find u.s., why don't y'all do what you're supposed to practise, come up and find us, why don't ya, because you're bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, why don't y'all exercise right, why can't you lot exercise right, we hate yous, come and discover united states of america, we hate you, everyone hates yous, you improve come and find us, next fourth dimension, next time you better come up.

We hit and we kept on striking; we were allowed to be what we were, frightened and vengeful—fiddling animals, clawing at what we needed.

Page Number and Citation: 50

Explanation and Analysis:

Animals Symbol Timeline in Nosotros the Animals

The timeline below shows where the symbol Animals appears in Nosotros the Animals. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...in which trolls play a trick on the goats into having sex, creating Manny, Joel, and the narrator—iii half-animal offspring. (total context)

...When Old Human emerges from the house and sees Manny and Joel, he calls them animals and tells them to leave. (full context)

...father scrub him and his brothers, he notices Paps'southward muscles, thinking that he's like an creature—a "physical and instinctive" beingness. Ma, on the other hand, is pocket-size enough to ride atop... (full context)

...maxim that they hate them. Yelling and hitting like this, the boys act like "little animals" "clawing at what [they] need[]." (full context)

...up and allow them embrace him. Instead of doing this, though, he acts like an animal, trying to tear their faces with his hands and, when this proves impossible, attacking his... (total context)

"These days," the narrator says, he sleeps with animals—peacocks and lions slumbering next to him on leafy blankets. In his dreams, he stands upright... (full context)