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Love And Violence In We The Animals By Justin Torres

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We the Animals by Justin Torres is a novel about three brothers of white and Puerto Rican descent who experience a rough and tumultuous life of poverty, abuse, confusion, loneliness, and imagination. Throughout the book, we see how the family evolves and specifically how the youngest brother grows in his identity, both sexually and in his role within his family. A crucial theme in We the Animals is love; the confusing dysfunctional way love is portrayed in this novel shows how the family members are like ‘animals’ and how they have their own strange ‘wild’ way of interacting with each other. Love in this novel is often tied to tender emotions and these emotions are equated with love and violence within their family relationships. In chapter 15, Paps beats Manny because he and his brothers decided to sleep in the woods without supervision, he then apologized and said that he only beat him because he was afraid that they might have been hurt. Paps justified his physical violence …show more content…

Since violence is the main way love is portrayed within the boy's family, when it is lacking in their life, it feels as if love is also lacking in their life. The narrator senses that his academic success and emerging sexual identity are putting him at odds with his brothers and the readers see provoking his brothers into hurting him. This is how violence has created a dysfunctional reality for the boys that imitates an animal-like environment. Humans are thought to be relational, empathetic, kind beings that choose nurture over nature, families stereotypically are close and use a certain approach when it comes to one another. However, animals are thought of as beings that choose survival over love and family, baby animals start to learn how to survive on their own in harsh conditions exceedingly early on, just like the boys in We the Animals, who were exposed to harsh environments early

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In the article “A Change of Heart About Animals” by Jeremy Rifkin published in the Los Angeles Times on September 1, 2003 Rifkin advocates for the ethical treatment of animals and discusses how people perceive, and at times underestimate, animals and their abilities. Two letters were written, one by Lois Frazier and the other by Bob Stevens, to Rifkin in response to “A Change of Heart About Animals” and were published in the Los Angeles Times editorial section. Each letter expresses the author’s individual opinion on Rifkin’s convictions. Rifkin uses scientific studies, such as the ones conducted at Purdue University on pigs’ social behavior (Source #1 par. 4), to support his belief that

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In A Change of Heart About Animals, author Jeremy Rifkin gives his penny for thought on the animal rights front. Rifkin states his beliefs firmly, citing evidence that supports his argument that like humans, animals are able to have emotional connections and are more like humans than we realize. However, Rifkin’s evidence swiftly begins to contradict his point. He expects humans to treat animals with equal rights without realizing animals wouldn’t be able to do the same. So, in Rifkin’s cute little imaginary world, would animals end up being superior to humans?

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I also think that the beast will try to hurt them because they keep on seeing the beast and also keep on having nightmares about it. Why is the fear of the beast too dangerous to the boys' society? The fear of the beast is dangerous to the boy’s society because the fear is causing disagreement and confusion between the boys. This disagreement can cause a drift in the society because of the different beliefs and their society can crumble.

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Obviously, the boys' fear of the ‘beast’ and their ironic need to destroy it shows that the tight grip which society's rules once had on them has been loosened in the duration of the time they have spent on the

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The novel suggests that even the most civilized individuals can become violent and dangerous when placed in a situation where they must fight for survival. Additionally, the fact that the boys are children suggests that the novel is also about the loss of innocence and the corrupting influence of power. While the choices that characters make regarding self-preservation versus moral code are certainly an important aspect of the novel, it is not the only theme that the novel explores. This is evident in the way that the boys' behavior becomes more violent and primitive as they become more desperate to survive. For example, the boys become obsessed with hunting and killing animals and eventually turn on each other violently and chaotically.

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The book follows a group of boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and left to fend for themselves. As time passes, the boys become more savage and violent, eventually turning on each other in a battle for power. This theme is further explored through the character of Jack, who becomes increasingly authoritarian and manipulative, ultimately leading to the death of several of his peers. The novel suggests that without the constraints of society, humans are prone to violence and destruction.

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The story is about the capacity of humans for violence because it centers itself around innocent children who become savages, not grown men. It is important that the characters are children because it helps the story to reveal that even innocent children contain the ability to kill and become brutal savages. Adults would likely act similarly in this situation because it is adults who start wars in society, not

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Eventually, leaning on older brothers knowledge infiltrates other aspects of life to the point that a sense of sibling dependency develops within younger siblings. This type of sibling interaction is a major theme in Michael Cunningham’s White Angel. In fact, in just the second paragraph, the narrator says, referring to his older brother “I made no move without his counsel” (379). Throughout the short story he continues to hint at his dependency on his older brother with phrases like “I lean into Carlton’s certainty as if it gave off heat” and “I run to Carlton for protection” (380, 389). [ANALYZE] Similarly, in We The Animals the protagonist overtly displays a dependency on his older brother Manny.

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The “beast” not only has a physical form of a human, it also represents the savagery of human nature that is displayed through the boys. Throughout the novel, the boys slowly lose their sense and morph into horrendous and violent monsters. The most prominent example of this savagery is during Simon’s murder. A very “beast”-like and aggressive vocabulary is used during this scene to describe the boys attack on Simon, including, “leapt… screamed, struck, bit, tore… and the tearing of teeth and claws,” (Doc F). While these words are expected to be used to describe a monster, they describe the boys instead.

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The main character, James Howe(yes, it is a personal narrative)is trying to fit into his family, but his emotions make him stand out. This is true because when animal is involved,, he lets his emotions pour out. This isn’t how the rest of the family acts or how the want him act. He his conflicted about whether he loves his family due to the way they act towards animals. In the end, he makes a choice about whether to he is going to fit into his family or not, and this decision is decided by his emotions.

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We the Animals by Justin Torres depicts the story of a young boy who balances growing up amongst a complicated, often abrasive family with the intersection of his unique identities, both of which force him to see and understand how his own path will eventually differentiate itself from the life and society he’s been born into. This semi-autobiographical novel imagines and portrays the concepts of family in ways alternative to the standard and hegemonic norms, as they instead center around and stem from violence, brutality, and the cyclical effects of power imbalances that can begin from dominant authority figures and eventually influence and become ingrained in others, even children. In particular, the father’s treatment of the mother throughout

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Justin, the young boy in We the Animals, choices to go against his family and live a life that was considered “abnormal” or socially unacceptable based on his sexual orientation. Although this caused a separation in his family, he lives a better life. Kristin, the girl from The Season of the Skull, on the other hand choice to conform to societal norms and lives a life of doubt and regret. Justin and Kristin both lives what seemed to be happy lives for young children. The tone words expressed in both pieces include happiness, sadness and even regret.

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