Endangered

“He’s very bad, Sophie. You made a big mistake by giving him money. I can see you’re starting to understand the gravity of what I’m saying, so I won’t bring it up again. But you have to be wise about these things. You have to learn when to ignore suffering so that you’re strong enough to fight it when the time is right.”

While Sophie demonstrates some maturity in handling conflict, she does not always fully understand the consequences of her choices. For example, when Sophie buys Otto from the trafficker, she sees a poor man selling a baby bonobo to make money. She forgets that young bonobos can only be taken by killing their families and does not realize that purchasing Otto only compounds that problem. Florence better understands these complexities and helps her daughter understand how to navigate suffering and conflict more effectively.

“The guidelines on how to keep a young bonobo healthy are pretty short: When they’re with their mothers, they’re happy and healthy; when they’re not with their mothers, they begin to die.”

This passage outlines how important mothers are to baby bonobos and explains why Otto clings so desperately to Sophie immediately upon meeting her in Kinshasa. It also explains the vital role that Sophie now plays in Otto’s life and why she decides to leave the UN van and stay with the ape. She knows that leaving Otto will likely kill him, so she sacrifices her safety to ensure Otto’s survival.

“Brilliant greens, blues, and reds only your imagination could match. A lively, loving people. It was just that those same people occasionally took up their machetes and chopped one another up by the millions, and those vibrant red shades weren’t only from blossoms pouring off sun-soaked tree branches.”

In this quotation, Eliot Schrefer uses juxtaposition to illustrate the contrast between the beauty of the novel’s setting and the violence that occurs within that setting. He describes the vivid colors of the Congo jungle and the blood spilled in the country’s many civil wars. Likewise, Schrefer explains that despite how caring the people can be, those same people kill millions of members of rival groups. This juxtaposition vividly shows the reader the tragedy marking Congo and the conflict inherent in the novel’s setting.

“I’ve spent years trying to put an end to the market in baby bonobos. Slowly, they stopped appearing in Kinshasa. In one moment, you reestablished it.”

Florence makes this statement to Sophie to explain how buying Otto will impact the bonobo trade and that many more bonobos will likely die because of one wrong decision. This statement also shows Florence’s positive influence on the bonobo population and the irony behind the unintentional harm that her own daughter inflicts on her work.

“Otto had been simple before, representing only himself. Now whenever I looked at him I’d see the image of those two little bonobos in the cage. His life stood for those other two lives. And it stood for my own guilt.”

When Sophie realizes that her decision to buy Otto has disrupted her mother’s attempts to end the infant bonobo trade, she sees Otto differently. Because of Sophie’s decision, the animal trafficker obtains two more infants, hoping that Sophie will buy them. When Sophie sees the two bonobos, she realizes that implicit in the presence of the stolen infants is the grim reality of their family’s violent deaths at the hands of the traders, for baby bonobos can only be obtained if their adult protectors are slaughtered. Thus, the scene forces Sophie to fully acknowledge her mistake and accept her own role in the orphans’ suffering.

“‘We stay put,’ Patrice said. ‘You heard them. This will go like it has gone before. We will hope no one tries to enter our homes. And the roads are where you die.’”

When the sanctuary staff listens to the radio and hears about the violence erupting around Kinshasa, Patrice decides that everyone must stay at the sanctuary because it will be safer than venturing out onto the roads. Ironically, violence still manages to find its way to the sanctuary when the rebels overrun it and kill everyone but Sophie, Clément, and Mama Marie-France.

“I crouched in the mud with Otto, smelling filth and listening to the slaughter and unable to stop the flash flash flash of imagined images going along with the voices of the people I’d grown to love as they were silenced, witnessing their last moments in my mind until the familiar voices were gone, leaving only the unknowable Swahili of the rebel soldiers, occasional gunfire accompanied by laughter, and the crashing ruckus of pillage.”

This passage illustrates the danger Sophie is in once the rebels take over the sanctuary. As they do, they kill the entire sanctuary staff. While Sophie cannot see the slaughter as it happens, she hears and sees enough evidence that it allows her imagination to fill in the rest, and she is faced with surviving a terrifyingly adult situation despite being only a child with few resources.

“The murp came again, a shriek hoarse from prolonged suffering. A call like Otto had made back when he was being sold on that dusty road. Like those two young bonobos had made on the back of the trafficker’s bike.”

Sophie further demonstrates her willingness to sacrifice her safety for that of the sanctuary’s bonobos when she dares to leave the safety of the adult enclosure to seek out a crying bonobo. This passage also shows her attempts to make amends for buying Otto and encouraging the trafficker to seek out more bonobo babies in the jungle. The guilt of Sophie’s mistake haunts her and drives many of her decisions in her quest to rejoin her mother. Ultimately, she seeks to redeem herself for her mistake.

“The adorableness of the little black ape wrapped up in fuzzy white cashmere almost distracted me from my anxiety. The last time I’d worn that now-ruined sweater had been to go mall shopping with friends. A couple months ago I’d been arguing over food court bourbon chicken that colored denim was a sin. Now what I wanted most in the world was to manage to fall asleep on a rock with an ape snoring in my face.”

The image of Otto wrapped in a sweater is a charming yet stark contrast to the violence and suffering surrounding Sophie. This image of Otto is designed to depict him as being particularly endearing, even as the author emphasizes the tenuous and dangerous situation in which the human and the ape now find themselves. By describing the origins of the sweater that is now one of only a few objects that Sophie possesses as she huddles with Otto, lost in the jungles of a war-torn country, the author draws a stark contrast between the luxuries of America and the desperation of Sophie’s current plight. Her life has changed instantly, and she must grow up quickly to survive.

“I looked at my new bonobo companions, puzzled. They wouldn’t let me forage with them before. Something had changed, and I suspected it had to do with swinging the stake. Without ever quite meaning to, I’d entered the troop’s pecking order.”

This passage describes the moment in which Sophie ceases to be just a teenage girl and becomes an accepted member of a bonobo community. By defending Otto against Anastasia’s rage, Sophie earns her place in the group, albeit at the bottom of the hierarchy, and this newfound status gives her protection and support from some of the bonobos, especially Mushie and Ikwa. Through the help of the apes, she is able to survive and form a larger plan of escape.

“Mushie undid my pathetic knot and, leaping easily to the next tree over, efficiently made a new nest, using eight branches instead of his own three, maybe because he knew I needed a far safer nest than the average bonobo. Without another glance at me, he returned to his own nest and lay down to sleep.”

Now that the bonobos have accepted Sophie, Mushie takes it upon himself to help and protect her, starting with building her a more secure nest. This image also demonstrates the protective nature of bonobos, as well as their intelligence, for Mushie intuitively knows that although Sophie is now one of them, she has different needs.

“It was cold comfort that the massacre of the remaining bonobos would slow the kata-kata and aid our escape. It made me feel bad, but in an abstract, numb way. I was tired of living for the memory of those who’d been lost, for the memory of Otto’s family and that of those twin bonobos, gripping the bars of their cage as the trafficker pedaled away.”

Many of Sophie’s actions are driven by guilt, as exemplified in this passage. However, Sophie becomes so burdened by this guilt that she must learn to let go of her mistakes and those she loses in order to maintain enough strength to move forward and survive. She will continue to forgive herself, and by the novel’s end, she will become stronger as a character because of all she has been through.

“I was feeling something more than fear as I rode: It was fear with a purpose, fear devoted entirely to the task of being alert. It was fear that, in the context of survival, was doing what fear was meant to do; all my edges were left sharp.”

At this point in the novel, Sophie finds her strength and uses it to her advantage. She has already escaped the bonobo enclosure and sanctuary and made it a long distance because of her intelligence and instincts. As she leaves the schoolhouse, Sophie resolves to find her mother at the release site, using fear to inspire her instead of holding her back.

“Now that the attack had happened, what I wanted most was another chance for someone to tell me I had to leave Otto behind, for a reasonable adult to make the decision for me and lead Otto away and save my life. It was both the worst and the best thing that could happen.”

Sophie’s coming-of-age journey remains at the heart of the novel. However, as she grows in character and strength, she experiences momentary setbacks that make her want her old life back so that she can enjoy the lack of responsibility that comes with just being a teenager. This passage demonstrates the weight that Sophie carries by protecting Otto, and despite her inner fortitude, she occasionally wishes that she could shed her responsibility and take care of only herself.

“If I had taken a healthy young bonobo and shot her, I could repent and atone. But I’d become part of a system, as permanent and complex as war itself, made a dozen small choices that had led to these dead creatures with their wide faces and chapped lips.”

This passage references what Florence told Sophie about reestablishing a demand for infant bonobos. Ever since the trafficker arrived at the sanctuary with the twin apes, Sophie has carried this guilt, and the feeling only becomes stronger when she finds the twins dead in the jungle and knows that their deaths are her fault. This passage also taps into the illegal animal trade that is prevalent in Congo and illustrates how even well-intentioned people can create a demand in this trade without realizing the harm they are doing.

“But I realized with a jerk that it wasn’t August anymore. It was September. Or even October? Not October, surely…Could school have been going that long already? Did life go on in America when I was hiding from militias in Congo? Did I make it into the morning announcements? No green elephant notebooks this year, kids.”

Sophie’s reflection on time emphasizes how many months have passed since the massacre on the sanctuary and demonstrates how the teen internalizes her situation and strives to maintain her endurance and avoid feeling hopeless. The comment about notebooks references Sophie’s habit of buying notebooks in Congo to share with her American friends. The author’s decision to invoke this incongruous image creates a link between the girl’s two worlds while simultaneously emphasizing just how very far she is from anything that she has known.

“I very quickly discovered that blending in wouldn’t work. I guess because a girl on her own had no reason to be alive and intact. Very soon there were whistles, then soldiers with red eyes and prominent guns jostling my shoulders, grabbing their crotches and shouting at me in languages I didn’t understand. The crowd was clotting around me, and I knew the only way this could all end. Men would turn to mobs, words would turn to actions, someone would grab at me, and then another, and the end would begin.”

As Sophie moves into the heart of Mbandaka, she realizes how much danger she is in and fully understands the consequences of putting herself in this situation for Otto’s sake. She is mature enough to realize that the rebels might not only murder her but also rape her. This scene vividly portrays the dangers of being a girl alone in a war-torn Congo, as well as the unpredictability inherent in a big city.

“I found myself unexpectedly thinking of my mother. I got why she’d spent so many years charming boring men. To survive. The position I was in, playing some disgusting politics with this boy, was awful. But it wasn’t the end of the world. The end of the world was that crowd of men on the far side of the door.”

Sophie demonstrates her growth and maturity when she confronts Bouain and tricks him into thinking that she has a magical bond with Otto. She also shows a connection with and appreciation for her mother when she understands that her own actions mirror those of Florence. Both women must do whatever they can to navigate and survive in a man’s violent world.

“I’d rescued Otto, and hugged him when he needed it and more. That didn’t lie. I held myself to the standard of my thoughts and ideals. Otto held me to the standard of my actions. It was something I could learn from, especially in the context of the last few weeks.”

This passage exemplifies Sophie’s growth during her journey to Ikwa. Here, Sophie ponders how the bonobos do not understand reason and logic but do understand behavior. This thought makes Sophie realize that her choices and behavior mean more than what she says or thinks, a lesson she will carry into adulthood as she devotes her life to helping Congo.

“It wasn’t to me that she was apologizing, I knew; it was to everyone who worked at the sanctuary. But since I was the only one there to accept her regret, it was up to me to bear its weight.”

Although Sophie and Florence’s relationship shows signs of improvement when the women are first reunited, Sophie understands that her mother does not just mourn her daughter’s experience but also that of the sanctuary staff. So, while this mother-daughter relationship does strengthen enough for Sophie to decide to stay in Kinshasa at the war’s conclusion, there is still some conflict and tension between the two women as they reunite and discuss their experiences.

“Even once I was well enough to walk around, I didn’t go far. Like Otto weeks ago, I’d feel an almost constant need to check on my mother and confirm that she was still there. She always was.”

Sophie’s desire to stay close to Florence after her ordeal is one example of how Sophie’s behavior mirrors that of a young bonobo’s. Young apes depend on their mothers for survival, as Otto demonstrates when he becomes dependent on Sophie after she buys him. Sophie’s attachment to Florence also symbolizes the healing that takes place between the two women and foreshadows Sophie’s decision to stay in Kinshasa instead of returning to America.

“Mom spent the first few days tracking down the families of her dead employees—though Dad and I kept telling her that their deaths weren’t her fault, she vowed to pay for the upkeep of parentless children and partnerless spouses. It made the cost of getting the sanctuary back and running higher and higher, but if she debated whether it was all worth it, she didn’t let on.”

Readers might judge Florence harshly for choosing the bonobos and the sanctuary over Sophie and Sophie’s father, but this passage illustrates how selfless Florence is and how hard she works for those she loves. Because of her increased maturity, Sophie can now understand and appreciate Florence’s selflessness, and she will eventually follow her mother’s example when she returns to Congo after college and finds her own way to serve the people of Congo.

“I pondered what had happened. The possibilities were wonderful and terrible. Maybe the teacher had gotten the boys together and escaped. Maybe soldiers had come and recruited the whole bunch. Maybe tearful families had come with open arms to collect their children. Maybe the water had gotten contaminated and cholera and done everyone in, wild animals dragging away the bodies. I would never find out.”

When Sophie returns to Congo after graduating from college in America, she returns to the schoolhouse outside Kinshasa. Seeing the empty schoolhouse symbolizes the loss and tragedy that the country experienced at the hands of the rebels. This event also relates to Sophie being unable to find Ikwa and Anastasia. She will never know what happened at the schoolhouse or to the two bonobos, and this mystery emphasizes her enduring sense of tragedy and loss.