52 pages • 1 hour read
Justin TorresWe The Animals
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Discuss the title, We The Animals, and how it relates to theme and character. How does Torres zoomorphize the narrator and other characters?
How does the narrator change throughout the novel? Track his character arc and diversion from his brothers.
What does the trench symbolize? Why does Paps dig it? How do the different characters react to it?
Does the novel’s structure contribute to its message? Explore the way the story is told.
Where do we see themes of birth and rebirth in We The Animals?
How does identity play a role in the novel? Does the boys’ diverse racial background affect how they act? Does it play a role in their interactions with the outside world?
What does Paps’s purchase of the “Big-Dick Truck” say about him as a father and a male?
Throughout the novel, it seems that everyone around the narrator takes on more animalistic characteristics than he does, yet he is the one to act out in the end and be sent to a “zoo.” Explore the family dynamics that lead to the narrator’s breakdown.
