Page 124 - Dark Matter Women Witnessing

Rosemary worries that Fern will have to try new foods, something she and Fern

heartily dislike. When her father recites a colorful litany of exotic fruits that Fern

will be enjoying in her new life, Rosemary repeatedly interrupts, “But can she still

eat her favorites. . . ? Apples, bananas, candy.” Underlying the narrative are the

ethics, morality, and unexpected consequences of a certain kind of scientific

inquiry that involves using animals for human-centered purposes, in this

particular case, human-fostered chimpanzees.

When Rosemary researches human-fostered chimps for a college project, she

discovers their terrible outcomes. Rosemary also falls in love with a wild and

crazy woman named Harlow, surely a cross-species type, her name an obvious

nod to Harry Harlow, he of the infamous chimp-terry-cloth mother studies. With

the help of Harlow and her brother, Rosemary locates Fern and makes a final

visit to the place where Fern now has her existence.

Throughout her novel, Fowler asks similar questions as de Waal—do chimps

have empathy, memory, develop attachments, intelligence? And if so, how are

they the same or different from us? “Animals,” deWaal says, “should be given a

chance to express their natural behavior. We are developing a greater interest in

their variable lifestyles. Our challenge is to think more like them, so that we open

our minds to their specific circumstances and goals and observe and understand

them on their own terms.” Fowler’s novel gives this point emotional poignancy.

Charles Foster not only wants to think more like animals; he wants to physically

enter their umwelt, the world as experienced by a particular creature, which is

why his book is titled Being a Beast: Adventures Across the Species Divide.

Like Thomas Thwaites, Foster is existentially perplexed. He asks himself the

perennial human questions: who or what are we, and what on earth are we doing

here? He hopes to find answers, not by observing animals as deWaal does, or

by trying to become one, as Thwaites attempts, or having a wild animal live with