The Art of Racing in the Rain Chapters 6-10 Quotes

The Art of Racing in the Rain Chapters 6-10 Quotes

How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)

"[Zoë] came early. You can't know what's going to happen before it happens."

"Yes I can," Denny said, "If I am any good, I can." (6.34-5)

If you think this is a little Yoda-trippy, that's because it is. Denny is trying to apply the rules by which he lives his racing career to his life, which is all very well and good when it makes him a prepared, focused person, but not good when he beats himself up for missing his daughter's birth or feels responsible for his wife's death. There are some things we can't control, Denny. Like whether they'll ever make a live-action reboot of The Lion King.

Quote 2

From the moment they arrived, the Twins had been admonishing Eve for having her baby at home. They told her she was endangering her baby's welfare and that in these modern times, it was irresponsible to have a baby anywhere but in the most prestigious of all hospitals with the most expensive of all doctors. (6.26)

Here Eve's parents, in a dynamic feat of time travelling, try to control a situation that has already transpired. They fail because they can't time travel, but they certainly want Eve to know how they would have done things differently and how her decision, which ended up working out in the end, anyway, was completely wrong.

Eve Swift

Quote 3

"Will you promise to always protect her?" [Eve] asked. She wasn't asking me. She was asking Denny, and I was merely Denny's surrogate. Still, I felt the obligation. I understood that, as a dog, I could never be as interactive with humanity as I truly desired. Yet, I realized at that moment, I could be something else. I could comfort Eve when Denny was away. I could protect Eve's baby. (6.20-1)

This moment between Eve and Enzo is about two things. First, Eve might be suggesting that she won't always be around to protect her daughter, so she's asking Enzo, and by proxy, Denny, to do it for her. Second, Enzo steps up to the plate here, realizing that while he can't take control of being human, he can take control of his own life, in whatever small way he can, and do what Eve asks of him.