Perestroika In Paris

“What is ownership these days?”

The author introduces Raoul as an intellectual bird who considers himself above others, established by having him discuss philosophy. Through Raoul, the novel raises philosophical questions that pertain to its allegorical and magical realist purpose. Raoul’s character arc will reveal a vanity beneath intellectualism; he does care about ownership, such as owning his nest’s position. To finish his narrative, Raoul must become humble, which happens after his crash flight to the racetrack.

“What is a nest but a temporary assemblage of bits and pieces—of trash, if you will—collected and molded into a comfortable, yet always ephemeral, dwelling?”

Raoul’s commentary on his nest is a parallel for discussing finding a home or a place to belong. When Raoul does not have one, he believes they are temporary and rebuildable. Only once he builds a more permanent bond with his friends and finds a home that he wants to keep does he begin building a nest with the intent to stay. This change in opinion is part of the novel’s message on the importance of building emotional bonds and security.

“The effort was satisfying in its way—once the hole was big enough, she could not only hide the purse in it, she could curl up on top of the purse and take a rest […] She felt good in the hole, maybe the best she’d felt since Jacques had been carried off.”

Frida digs a hole to protect the purse and symbolically protects herself and what belongs to her. This episode highlights Frida’s insecure emotional and physical situation. Since she lost Jacques, Frida has not had a place to belong or a place to feel safe. When Frida digs this first hole, Smiley foreshadows the bigger hole Frida will dig later to ensure her freedom; she also foreshadows Frida finding a place to belong and feel safe.

“Paras had a dream. Perhaps it was the apples that gave her the dream, but she didn’t dream of apples—she dreamed of oats.”

In Paras’s dream, she receives oats without any expectations being placed on her. Oats and affection always came with expectations and conditions in her racing life. She had to do well in races or training to receive positive attention. Outside, she receives oats just because Anais wants to be kind. There are no expectations, only a desire to bond with the unexpected animal before her. When Paras dreams of oats, she metaphorically dreams of bonding with people (animal or human) without anyone expecting anything from her in return. Paras’s dream of oats foreshadows her learning that she can have a more equal relationship with humans.

“Sid had none of the sense of larger perspective that every bird should get with age. He would not accept that each spot had its advantages and disadvantages, and that fate would take its course no matter what.”

This passage highlights one of the underlying concepts within the novel: that experience comes with age. Smiley juxtaposes Paras’s and Etienne’s youth and Raoul and Madame’s older age relative to those around them. When Paras finishes her journey, she is no longer “young” but learns that age is relative and there are always more experiences to find.

“If every new thing were to come as a surprise, he knew he would be surprised every hour of his life.”

Smiley introduces elements from the fable genre, a genre often drawn on within magical realism. Fables often include moral lessons, epigrammatic statements, and talking animals. Smiley lays out many life lessons for her audience throughout her narrative.

“Paras knew that she had left because she was curious and didn’t know any better, not because she was dissatisfied, but, well, this freedom, these friends she had made, and this strange field were all more intriguing than anything else she had ever seen.”

Smiley frequently pauses the narrative to have Paras reflect on her journey and why she left the racetrack, drawing attention to specific moments in the form of an aside. Here, Smiley focuses on the theme of The Universal Longing for Freedom and Belonging. By showing Paras as satisfied but missing “something,” Paras becomes emblematic of those who are both content but also seeking more.

“Today, though, no one was worrying about Paras—it was cold, their blankets were dirty from lying down in the muck, the hay was a little dry.”

In short bursts, Smiley returns to the racetrack to explore how the other horses think and feel. In doing so, Smiley juxtaposes racetrack life with Paras’s freedom. These contrasts highlight the novel’s promotion of the bonds between humans and animals, especially animal welfare and respect, and foreshadow the ways that Paras’s journey will improve the conditions for all the horses on her return.

“Oh goodness, you know, a small enclosed space where you can’t get in and out of your own accord, but must always bow and scrape and do tricks in order to achieve some sort of self-realization.”

Frida defines “prison” in these naturalistic terms, which connects to the theme of Animals as a Vehicle for Commentary on Human Life. It also touches on The Universal Longing for Freedom and Belonging by positioning prison as a place where one is neither free nor one belongs.

“Now, however, she did not know what to do, and so she did an, admittedly, hunting-dog thing—she ran in circles about the Champ, as if she were scouting for game, but she wasn’t, really—it was really just that she had no idea what to do.”

Smiley’s portrayal of Frida when Raoul and Paras first become trapped in the de Mornay residence represents confusion and distress. By linking Frida’s sophisticated inner life with typically doglike behavior, Smiley challenges the human assumptions that animals are less emotionally complex than humans. In portraying Frida’s empathy, Smiley shows how one character losing their freedom causes a ripple effect impacting everyone else.

“Raoul and other birds seemed to view it as a sort of tree/building hybrid, and he had told Frida that various flocks over the years had attempted to colonize it, not pausing to wonder, as he said, ‘why no flocks had dared come before them—but every bird thinks of himself as an adventurer.’”

As part of the themes of The Universal Longing for Freedom and Belonging and Animals as a Vehicle for Commentary on Human Life, Smiley uses Raoul to draw attention to how humans pursue freedom and often forgo logic in doing so because they will not pause to think about why someone else has not attempted the same action before.

“I suppose that communicating is rather dangerous.”

Frida fears communicating with others, so she mumbles. Her fear of communication comes from a fear of not belonging. If one communicates their thoughts, there is an inherent risk that the other participant will judge based on the speaker's words. Smiley crafts dialogue between Raoul and Frida to show how different perspectives about communication can influence a character’s sense of belonging.

“In Raoul’s opinion, the Corvus of Vincennes were only exceeded in their sense of self-importance by the Corvus of Tours. But he was coming to understand that all importance is really merely self-importance.”

Raoul continues to drive the theme of Animals as a Vehicle for Commentary on Human Life by critiquing the concept of importance and how differences create illusions of superiority. Raoul’s reflection discusses how humans use what is important to them as a reflection of what they believe makes them important to others.

“Actually, we both thought horses were mythical animals, so we are a little surprised to see you, but what is, is. Rats are down-to-earth realists. Life is short, tunnels are long.”

Kurt and Conrad act as a vehicle for the theme of Animals as a Vehicle for Commentary on Human Life by personifying an approach to life that relies on evidence and rationality alone. This passage is a nod to the magical realism of the novel, showing that things that are believed to be “mythical” can turn out to be true.

“Left to her own devices, Paras would have dropped the purse somewhere, having lost interest in it. That Paras should claim the purse was unjust, Frida thought.”

Looking to a different meaning for belonging, Smiley challenges what it means for something to “belong” to someone. To Frida, belonging is about caring; because Paras wouldn’t care about the purse, Paras doesn’t get to claim ownership. On the other side, Paras views ownership as who claims something: Claiming the purse as her own, whether she cares or not, is her justification for owning the purse. Here Smiley raises questions of deservedness, meaning, and relative value.

“Offerings, she understood, pleased the recipient in some strange way that had nothing to do with food.”

Frida explores The Bonds Between Humans and Animals by exploring how people react to receiving presents. She tries to imitate gift-giving by reflecting on what she feels is significant and what the people around her would want. This desire foreshadows her character arc growth as she relearns to bond with humans and the people around her.

“That was her main concern, vanity, until she lay down in her bed at the end of the day and her real concern hit her—yes, she wasn’t going to live forever, and what in the world would happen to Etienne?”

Madame personifies a contrast between the internal and external. When she presents herself to people, she worries about the thoughts and expectations of others, which creates conflict between herself and her environment since she cannot see or hear how the world reacts to her. When she enters solitary spaces, her internal conflicts take priority and become her primary focus—specifically, how to take care of others when she no longer can.

“Indeed, his future was a yawning chasm of loss and mystery that he didn’t dare look into.”

The Bonds Between Humans and Animals gains a layer of complexity because Etienne loses his bonds after Madame dies. He believes he will lose everyone if he loses Madame because he does not yet recognize that the animals have bonded with him. Smiley here sets up her ultimate message on the strength of bonds between humans and animals, as these bonds will lead to the decision to leave the de Mornay residence.

“As she remembered, she had crept to the bank some years ago—four? five?—and the man she met there, very well dressed, had reassured her that the bank only had her best interests at heart. Did she believe him? How might she decide?”

To contrast how humans and animals bond, Smiley includes portrayals of how humans interact. Where humans and animals more easily trust each other, bonds between humans come with questions and skepticism. Relationships between humans often come with conditions, where the bonds between animals are shown to require mutual care rather than transactional reciprocity.

“She shook her head, came back to the present, thought of the future: ‘What next?’”

Part of Madame’s character is that she lives in the past, partly because of her sensory loss. Everything she does in the present, she remembers as a past event because it gives her a sense of visual and auditory input. When the end of her story is coming, when she is about to die, she forces herself to be part of the present; by being present, she lets herself grow one last time because she can enjoy what is rather than what was.

“Kurt didn’t know what he wanted from Etienne. Certainly not food. Perhaps this was enough—acceptance.”

Smiley uses food as a symbol of acceptance. Throughout the novel, the appearance of food often connects with acceptance of a character for themselves, rather than what others expect them to be. Developing this symbol also adds layers of meaning to The Universal Longing for Freedom and Belonging because it poses the question of what one needs to receive to gain a sense of belonging.

“As for Paras, after her near-death experience, she was willing to do anything. Otherwise, she might have discouraged Kurt from running over her and sitting on her constantly, but his feet, light and tickly, reminded her that she was alive.”

A car thwarts Para’s attempt to return to the racetrack because she is not yet ready to return. She no longer travels alone, thanks to the bonds she forms between Etienne (as her representative human) and the other animals. The only way Paras can now return to the racetrack is to bring with her what she learned and found: belonging, acceptance, and love.

“Every summer is a new beginning, that’s what I’ve learned. I don’t have to carry the past with me. […] I am in charge of who I am and how I view things. I own my fears.”

Sid grows from a panicked mallard to a philosophical bird. Sid acts as a foil to Raoul because they must make opposite journeys: Sid needs to mature while Raoul needs to be humble. Raoul struggles with his humility until faced with something he believes would be impossible: Sid acting maturely. This catalyzes Raoul's acceptance of his limits rather than continually pushing himself.