The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story Chapter 1 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
(Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
"It's not enough to do research from a distance. It's by living beside animals that you learn their behavior and psychology." (1.18)
This is Jan's research philosophy. By replacing the word "animals" with "humans," you get Antonina's philosophy in observing the people who stay with them over the course of the war. If only she were roommates with Hitler, maybe she would have understood him, too. Or maybe not.
Quote 2
Antonina loved to slip out of her human skin for a while and spy on the world through each animal's eyes, and she often wrote from that outlook, in which she intuited their concerns and know-how, including what they might be seeing, feeling, fearing, sensing, remembering. (1.21)
Early on in the book, it feels like Antonina has extraordinary compassion for animals, as a zookeeper should. But later on, we start to wonder if Antonina actually feels she can communicate with animals telepathically. What do you think, is she compassionate or crazy? Maybe that kind of telepathic communication is real?
Quote 3
In 1931, they married and moved across the river to Praga, a tough industrial district with its own street slang, on the wrong side of the tracks, but only fifteen minutes by trolley from downtown. (1.5)
Like any young couple, Jan and Antonina move to a place where they think it will be nice to start a family. Unlike most young couples, they move into a zoo.
Quote 4
In the kitchen each morning, [Antonina] poured herself a cup of black tea and started sterilizing glass baby bottles and rubber nipples for the household's youngest. (1.23)
The Żabiński family isn't only made up of husband, wife, and son. To them, their animals are like family, too. You might think it would be weird growing up with a monkey as a brother, but hey, Ryś seems to turn out okay, so we're not gonna question it.
Quote 5
Antonina and Jan had learned to live on seasonal time, not mere chronicity. Like most humans, they did abide by clocks, but their routine was never quite routine, made up as it was of compatible realities, one attuned to animals, the other to humans. (1.9)
Living in a zoo means that Jan and Antonina have to adapt their home life and their routines to those of the animals. It's difficult but rewarding, and it puts them in touch with the rhythms of nature.