Summary

The narrator begins this section by speculating on Apollo’s eventual death. She says that she “want[s] Apollo to live as long as [she does]. Anything less is unfair” (168). The narrator then remembers that although dogs are loyal to humans, they are not loyal to other dogs, often “lunging and snarling” at other dogs (169). She notices that Apollo does not hate other dogs, maintaining his “humanity” (170). The narrator then notices she has attributed to humanity to an animal, and wonders “what word should [she] say?” (170).

The narrator then speculates on how children see “animals as equals” and “have to be taught” that animals are inferior to them (171). The narrator then remembers Milan Kundera’s novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, saying in that novel, a character realizes the animal-human love is “better than the corrupt, fraught, eternally disappointing and compromised” human-human love...