#released animals

Four sea lions were released back to the wild after two months of being treated for various sicknesses including pneumonia, malnutrition and severe dehydration. Their illnesses are believed to have been caused by El Niño.

In this excerpt, Oskar Schell’s grandmother reflects on the day her husband abandoned her. She states that after her husband left, she set all of the animals in their home free. This action has multiple levels of symbolic meaning behind it. In terms of structure, the short, line by line sentences mirror the grandmother’s breakdown. These blunt statements of difficult to accept facts show her desperate attempts to grasp reality by turning a traumatic experience into short factual statements. Similarly, the syntax of this passage is short and sharp as well, with brief sentences and definitive periods- once again conveying the grandmother’s pained but definite emotional state. From a metaphorical perspective, this excerpt may be interpreted as a biblical allusion. Here, the grandmother releases the animals from her home, serving as a mirror to Genesis 8 verse 19 of the Bible, which states, “Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatever creeps on the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark”.  Here, the animals from Noah’s Ark are released one by one-worded in a manner similar to that described by the grandmother in this scene. This is significant because symbolically, it is meant to convey that the grandmother has experienced a rebirth. In the story of Noah’s Ark, all of God’s creatures are given a second chance at life after the great flood. When they are released, the earth is re-inhabited and the cycle of life starts from a blank slate. Similarly, in this scene the grandmother is given a chance to restart her life. As a pregnant, newly-single parent, her past has been washed away and she is able to begin life again. Like in Noah’s Ark, Oskar’s grandmother is given the opportunity to turn a tragedy into a reawakening. As she reflects on this part of her life, she uses this allusion to convey the amount of change she is experiencing during this time. Finally, this scene blurs lines- as it is difficult to tell whether these events (the grandmother’s release of the animals) actually occurred, or if they were added for dramatic effect.