The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett Book Analysis Essay

Within The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett, animal characters are used rather than humans to convey the novel’s key ideas and concepts. Hartnett uses the animals to convey these important ideas surrounding the selfishness and ignorance of humanity, through amplification and added complexity. These effects have been used to establish the ideas of loss, freedom and war, all as a result of the wrongs of humanity.

The idea of loss is shown through the lioness by using anthropomorphism to amplify the concept of mankind’s selfishness. Within the Boar’s speech, referring to the lioness’ background: “She was only a cub, that lioness, when a hunter shot her mother.” This use of an extended metaphor of loss shows the selfishness and cruelty of humanity at its core. Hartnett also uses anthropomorphism through the lioness’ story to convey this idea, amplifying the concept and adding complexity to the idea in a way that a human character wouldn’t create. This example of the idea of loss in The Midnight Zoo allows for the boys to grow a connection with the animals and express empathy towards the lioness in particular. As they have both lost their families at the hands of the selfishness and brutality of mankind. This also creates a correlation between the children and the cub, both associated with innocence and helplessness in the story. This compels the boys to give the lioness a closer look at Wilma, to let her experience something she never really could. Hence, how Hartnett uses the term ‘cub’ to associate the selfishness and brutality of humanity with the innocence of a child, like the boys are.

The selfishness of humanity is also shown through the idea of war in The Midnight Zoo within the Boar’s speech. Furthermore, the Boar’s speech about the destruction of war as a result of the selfishness of mankind quotes: “But then you started your war boy, and nothing is as important as what humans want, is it?” The boar shows its opinion towards how the greed and selfishness of humanity only leads to war, and therefore, destruction. The effect of anthropomorphism by showing this concept through an animal’s perspective, again adds more complexity to the idea and highlights the wrongful nature of humanity. The quote also calls out the mild ignorance of the boys by using the rhetorical question: “and nothing is as important as what humans want, is it?”. The use of rhetorical question causes the boys to see the reality of the world surrounding them and how ignorant and selfish it is by nature. Thus, Hartnett uses the boar to convey the selfishness of war to amplify the idea and make it more complex and prevalent, getting the boys to question their own motives and ideas.

Hartnett uses the chamois and the llama to highlight the ignorance of the boys, and therefore humanity as a whole, for believing that they are equally unfree as the animals of the zoo. Within a conversation between the boys and the animals, the chamois quotes: “Wah Wah Wah’ … Look on the bright side: You aren’t in a cage. You’re free, so stop complaining.” This use of sarcasm by the chamois pokes fun at the boys’ ignorance and their disregard for their surroundings. The llama quickly refutes that quote by saying: “You can go anywhere your feet take you, and yet you’re not free. There are no bars around you, yet you’re in a funny kind of cage.” Through this quote, the llama’s metaphor ‘funny kind of cage’ is used to symbolise the lack of freedom the boys have because of war and being born into a minority racial group. The chamois shows how ignorant man-kind is at heart and how humans don’t consider their non-human counterparts before making a self-judgement through the use of sarcasm. On the other hand, the llama demonstrates how minority races of humans are still affected by the cruelty and selfishness of specific individuals and how they too are in a ‘cage’, like the animals are. Therefore, this use of anthropomorphism by Hartnett implements these ideas into the personalities of the animals, allowing for them to express complex ideas surrounding the ignorance and lack of freedom within the zoo through simple conversation.

Overall, Hartnett conveys the novel’s important ideas of the selfishness and ignorance of humanity at its core by using the animals’ conversation and personalities to express these complex ideas in a simpler manner. Hartnett’s use of the lioness to show the devastation of experiencing loss, the Boar’s speech to show the greed and selfishness of war, and the implementation of these complex concepts within the animals’ personalities shows how the author is able to amplify and add complexity to convey important ideas. Hence, Hartnett uses the animals to convey the important ideas of The Midnight Zoo.