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55 pages 1 hour read

Lauren Beukes

Zoo City

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2010

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Symbols & Motifs

Mashavi

Originating from Shona mythology, mashave were wandering spirits who latched onto living humans. Zinzi’s Sloth, Benoît’s Mongoose, and Amira’s Marabou—mashavi­—guide each person through life and have magic and intelligence about them. Some people believe that animals are witches’ familiars. Others see them as physical manifestations of sin. Still others believe that climate change and pollution have disrupted the realm of spirits, causing people’s next reincarnations to join them in this lifetime.

For some who are animalled, animals are a source of shame; for others, they are loved companions. For all, they are inescapable: Humans experience intense separation anxiety when their familiars are not around. Animals symbolize the love/hate relationship that marginalized people in the real world often have with their physical characteristics. Skin, hair, or gender traits can be a beloved source of personal pride and power, but they can also invite abuse, for no reason—and they can rarely be altered. 

The Undertow

Because those who are animalled have committed crimes, many people believe that only animals stand between their humans and the final punishment for their sins. When an animal familiar dies, the formerly animalled person disappears into a black cloud referred to as “the Undertow.” No one knows what the Undertow is or what happens to people consumed by it, but it elicits fear in even the bravest heart.

Fear of the Undertow inspires some of the worst prejudice against Aposymbiots. For both the animalled and their non-animalled neighbors, the unfathomable black cloud is a source of fear. The animalled know that most likely, their animal will die before they do, and the Undertow awaits them. As a result, many live hedonistic lives, feeling as though nothing matters if the Undertow is their destiny.

The Undertow symbolizes the afterlife—and based on its appearance, not a good one. Fear of the Undertow, just like the fear of eternal damnation in certain religions, serves as a deterrent for evil acts and gives the non-animalled a reason to feel self-righteous. Yet no one knows whether the Undertow is good or evil, or what happens to those it swallows. Perhaps hell awaits on the other side; perhaps the person merely ceases to exist, swallowed by anti-existence, as posited by one physicist. Or, as Zinzi says, “Maybe we become stars on the other side” (245).

Muti

In the world of Zoo City, magical powers are granted to criminals through their animal familiars, and these powers inspire both fear and wonder. For these marginalized people, magic becomes a lifeline, a way of creating a business and sustaining a life. Because magic is in high demand and short supply, it also puts mashavi at risk.

Impoverished, some who are animalled are willing to cut up their animals and sell their parts for muti, magical spells and rituals that require animal parts or animal blood. Others become the target of violent crime and have their animals stolen by those who want to sell the parts for muti. Magic is thus a mixed blessing: It can keep its possessor alive or get them killed.

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