I was not afraid of time
Animals. Throughout The Famished Road there are many encounters with animals. Rats are frequently used in the descriptions of poverty that Azaro and his family endure. His mother is often seen ‘chasing the rats’ from under beds and tables.
The magic realism element of the novel is also present in the description of some of the animals. Azaro sees the world in a dream like way and sometimes it is not clear to him (or the reader) whether he is imagining the strange hybrids of animals that he talks about.The animals that feature the most in the novel are Reptiles, in particular Lizards. At some points they seem to represent luck and fortune. A character kills a lizard and it is seen as very bad luck. At other times they almost seem to be there to guide Azaro through his life, or at least through the novel. Lizards often communicate with the narrator. There is a moment when Azaro’s father asks a lizard to leave and the reptile ‘nods three times’ before leaving.
Reptiles are often seen as intriguing and wise creatures in mythology, and they have definitely worked in creating a mysterious aura around this novel. It seems that the ones with scales know more than we think.
1 Comments:
This is the most poetic blog i have come across, maybe i'll be back some day. Keep traveling, keep still. Here is the lead quote from my most recent book, The 5th Season -- Poetry for the re-creation of the world:
“The man standing in his own kitchen-garden with the fairyland opening at the gate, is the man with large ideas. His mind creates distance; the motor-car stupidly destroys it.”
“On Rudyard Kipling and Making the World Small” G. K. Chesterton (Heretics 1905)
You would like to know Loren Eiseley's mouse that led to the thought that there are at all times animal dreams -- for each little life has a picture, a dream of what it wants -- criss-crossing our paths on all sides, even below . . . -- i wish i could recall his words more precisely.
"Rise, Ye Sea Slugs!"
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