Animal Imagery Quotes

Question 1

At Sebastian’s approach these grey figures seemed quietly to fade into the landscape and vanish, like highland sheep into the misty heather

Answer 1

The use of the classic pastoral ‘sheep’ is interesting here. Sheep can also mean people following a leader, a flock of people devoid of their own opinion. By associating his past with most Charles suggests a clarity in this new epoch with Sebastian. Their greyness also implies Sebastian’s exuberance and strengthens the second interpretation of sheep

Question 2

Scraggy little women like hens and have cretinous porcine sons… their barnyard daughters will snigger and think their father was quite a dog in his day

Answer 2

Blanche likens these members of the aristocracy to various animals, dehumanising and satirising them. The description of women is heightened by his homosexuality, porcine is a real condemnation of greed and gluttony, and the dog comparison subverts any positive connotations this saying might have.

Question 3

Sammy came panting in and recaptured me

Answer 3

Panting shows a kind of desperation from Samgrass. The nickname is something that a dog might actually be called! Recaptured suggests that Sebastian is to be controlled like an animal.

Question 4

Small tortoise… slightly obscene object… antediluvian head… “Oh, Julia, what’s that? How beastly.”

Answer 4

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Question 5

I heard his voice, unintelligible at a great distance, like a dog’s barking miles away on a still night.”

Answer 5

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Question 6

Wolfish look

Answer 6

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Question 7

Rises like a fresh young trout to the hypodermic injection of a new culture

Answer 7

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