The Art of Racing in the Rain Chapters 36-40 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
When they were all gone, we walked down the hill and we stood before the mound of dirt and we cried. We kneeled and we cried and we grabbed handfuls of the dirt, the mound, and we felt the last bit of her, the last part of her that we could feel, and we cried. (36.63)
This is a cathartic moment for Denny and Enzo, because up until this moment, they've been so caught up in the custody battle and the rape charges and the entanglement with lawyers that Eve's death has faded to the background. Here, they get to cry out with their pain, their frustration, and their loss.
Quote 2
I thought of Eve and how quickly she embraced her death once the people around her agreed to it; I considered the foretelling of my own end, which was to be full of suffering and pain, as death is believed to be by most of the world, and I tried to look away. (37.16)
The parallels Enzo draws between his own impending death and Eve's death brings together ideas about death and control. After receiving his diagnosis, Enzo wonders if he's strong enough to choose a different path for himself, to take control despite this news. Since he can't drive, taking a different path might be a problem. It's not like they're going to give a dog a driver's license, right?
Quote 3
I understood, ultimately, that the court case earlier in the day was not Denny's criminal trial, but a custody hearing, a hearing that had been delayed over and over, put off for months because the lawyers were going to their houses on Lopez Island with their own families and the judge was going to Cle Elum to his ranch. I felt betrayed; I knew that those people, those officials of the court, had no clue as to the feelings I had witnessed that night at the dinner table. (40.43)
This serves as both an emotional disconnect and a financial one. It shows us that while Denny and Zoë and Enzo are down in the trenches dealing with their problems, the ones making the decisions about their lives are so far removed from the situation that, to Enzo's mind, they seem totally oblivious to it. It's okay, Enzo. We hear Lopez Island doesn't even have Jennifer Lopez living on it, so it's clearly overrated.
Quote 4
"I made them love me too much," Zoë said softly, looking into her bowl of melted ice cream. "I should have been bad. I should have made them not want to keep me." (40.29)
Although Zoë doesn't understand the entirety of the situation, she does know that her grandparents and father are fighting over her, and she's able to pull from that, to some degree, that the situation is her fault, even though Denny has done his best to protect her from the reality of the situation. Poor kid.
Quote 5
We are all afforded our physical existence so we can learn about ourselves. (38.25)
Enzo's right: self-exploration, self-identification, and understanding are keys to what it means to be human, to think like a human. If Enzo can trot out philosophical stuff like this, he's well on his way to being a human himself.
Quote 6
They were now the Evil Twins. Evil, horrible, dastardly people who stuffed themselves with burning hot peppers in order to fuel the bile in their stomachs. (39.32)
Enzo's assessment of Maxwell and Trish made us picture them with twirling mustaches in a kitchen full of flames. Maybe the zebra they bought Zoë really was demonic, after all…