The Art of Racing in the Rain Chapters 21-25 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
"Get me through tonight," she said. "That's all I need. Protect me. Don't let it happen tonight. Enzo, please. You're the only one who can help." (23.109)
This is another instance when Eve relinquishes control of her own life to someone else, once again Enzo. She asks him to watch over her because she's too afraid to fall asleep and succumb to the terror that's lurking for her in the night. Fortunately, Enzo makes an excellent guard dog, just not against demon zebras.
Quote 2
[Zoë] unfolded a dishcloth that she'd brought from the house. In the dishcloth were scissors, a Sharpie pen, and masking tape. She pulled off the doll's head. She took the kitchen scissors and cut off Barbie's hair, down to the plastic nub. She then drew a line on the doll's skull, all the while whispering softy, "Everything's going to be okay."
When she was done, she tore off a piece of masking tape and put in on the doll's head. She pressed the head back onto the neck stub and laid the doll down. We both stared at it. A moment of silence.
"Now she can go to heaven," Zoë said to me. "And I'll live with Grandma and Grandpa." (21.5-7)
As far as grappling with the illness of a parent goes, maybe this isn't the healthiest way to do it. But it does allow us a peek into Zoë's mindset and see how her grandparents seem to be teaching her to start accepting and even coping with her mother's death.
Quote 3
"Until what?" Denny demanded. I could hear the irritation in his voice. "How do you know what's going to happen? You're condemning her to something before you even know."
[…]
"Please, Denny. We have to face the reality of it. The doctor said six to eight months. He was quite definite." (23.38-40)
This interaction shows Trish and Maxwell's opinion of Eve's diagnosis, as opposed to Denny's. Denny, who doesn't give up for anything, isn't willing to sell Eve out to her diagnosis, while Maxwell and Trish are preparing for the reality of it.
Quote 4
"I don't care what you look like," [Denny] said. "I see you. I see who you really are."
"I care what I look like," she said, trying to muster her old Eve smile. "When I look at you, I see my reflection in your eyes. I don't want to be ugly in front of you." (23.82-83)
This is another moment where it's Denny's turn to respect Eve's wishes, even though he doesn't understand them. So he goes home, leaving Enzo and Zoë with Eve, because he loves her.
Quote 5
"You!" [Annika] wailed, and started crying. "You flirted with me all week. You teased me. You kissed me."
"I kissed you on the cheek," Denny said. "It's normal for relatives to kiss on the cheek. It's called affection, not love." (25.73-74)
It's clear that Annika and Denny have very different interpretations of what's going on here, but that's understandable, given their age difference and their different perspectives on love. Denny, who has a wife and a daughter and has experienced adult love, knows that he doesn't love Annika and probably didn't intentionally egg her on. Annika, who's fifteen and presumably hasn't been in a serious relationship before, is experiencing what she believes to be love for the first time. Sparks certainly aren't flying here.
Quote 6
So much of language is unspoken. So much of language is comprised of looks and gestures and sounds that are not words. People are ignorant of the vast complexity of their own communication. (23.37)
Enzo makes another valid point here: being a human is one thing, but understanding how to converse as a human is another. There are so many variables: the words themselves, tones, gestures, facial expressions, all of which work together to convey a message. And don't even get us started on shared inside jokes, references, or sound effects, because we'd be here all night trying to explain it.
Quote 7
I marveled at them both; how difficult it must be to be a person. To constantly subvert your desires. To worry about doing the right thing, rather than doing what you is most expedient. (23.68)
Enzo realizes that sometimes being a human means needing to put other people's needs before your own, and he wonders whether he can handle it. That is one big thing that makes humans human—and not all humans are able to do it.
Quote 8
[Denny] took such care with [Zoë's] peanut butter and banana sandwiches, slicing the banana so that each slice was exactly the same thickness. (24.6)
Again, here we see Denny catering to his daughter's needs and making sure that the food he makes her matches her preferences. His attention to small details like this shows how much he loves his daughter and how he'll always go the extra mile for her. It also explains his tenacity with the lawsuit: if Denny is focused and driven enough to painstakingly cut a banana, he's also focused and driven enough to slog through a three-year custody battle. A+ parenting, Denny.
Quote 9
The group meal was convivial, and though I was determined to remain aloof, one of the cousins was always willing to slip me a treat at mealtime. And no one ever kicked me out from under the very large dining table where I lingered during dinner, even though I was breaking my own personal code; a certain sense of lawlessness pervaded the house…Why shouldn't I have partaken in the debauchery? (25.3)
When Denny, Enzo, and Zoë visit Eve's extended family up in Methow Valley, it seems like everyone's personal codes are on hiatus, not just Enzo's. We're looking at you, Annika.
Quote 10
But many others were, all of whom were relatives of some kind or another. We were only there, I overheard, because Eve had thought it was very important for Zoë to spend time with these people, since she, Eve, someone said, would die very soon. (25.1)
Zoë doesn't seem to have any connection to these people, but because of social conventions and blood relations, she's mandated to at least meet them before her mother dies. Sure, if that's necessary. But does that really make them family?
Quote 11
The barking of coyotes, my brethren, calling each other to the hunt. (25.4)
Even though Enzo knows he is part of the Swift family, he also acknowledges that the he is still a canine, and as such, he is related to the wilder animals of the night and the forest.
Quote 12
I could see that Denny was stuck. He had agreed to have Eve stay with Maxwell and Trish, and now they wanted Zoë, too. If he objected, he would be keeping a mother and a daughter apart. If he accepted their proposal, he would be pushed to the periphery; he would become an outsider in his own family. (23.45)
Just as Denny's conception of family is small, so is Maxwell and Trish's, and we've seen time and again that they don't believe he has a place in what they consider their family. As we've said before, it's because they're jerks.