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Part 5, Chapter 6
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Humans vs. Animals
Family, Tradition, and the Past
Absence, Silence, and Denial
Science, Knowledge, and Experiments
Normalcy vs. Deviance
Summary
Analysis
Back in the interrogation room, Rosemary picks up the pill bug and places it next to her sandwich, thinking that Lowell would not want her to leave it behind. The interrogating officer doesn’t come back; instead, a woman arrives to tell Rosemary she’s free to go. Todd, Todd’s mother, and Kimmy are waiting for Rosemary outside. They tell her that the night before, Ezra had been arrested for trying to break into the UC Davis Primate Center. He had been trying to free the monkeys inside, but they largely chose to stay in their cages. Ezra’s “female accomplice” has not yet been captured.
This passage further emphasizes the contrast between Rosemary’s first arrest at the beginning of the book and her third encounter with the law now. Whereas at the beginning of the book Rosemary was totally isolated and had to rely on her father calling from a whole other state, in this scene she has something of a community to support her, made up of Kimmy, Todd, and Todd’s mother.
Themes
Rosemary is spared from jail because Kimmy and Todd vouch that she was at home the night of the incident, and because Todd’s mother is a famous civil rights lawyer. Furthermore, Ezra told the police that his “accomplice” was Harlow. Todd’s mother takes Todd, Kimmy, and Rosemary out to dinner and encourages Rosemary to order lobster to celebrate. However, Rosemary does not want to pick out a live lobster, which she believes would look like “a very large pill bug.” Weeks later, Rosemary asks Todd if they are friends, and he replies with surprise, saying that they’ve been friends for years.
This part of the novel begins to resemble a stereotypical happy ending, with Rosemary having finally achieved her hope of making friends. At the same time, this resolution is not untroubled; Rosemary’s affinity with animals still prevents her from engaging in society in the same way as other people (as shown by the fact that she refuses the lobster), and she still awkwardly misreads social situations, such as when she surprises Todd by asking if they are friends.
Themes
Back at home after dinner that night, Todd, Kimmy, and Rosemary drink beers while the rest of the apartment building rages with celebration over the end of the semester. Toddy and Kimmy are excited at the knowledge that Lowell, a dangerous criminal, has been at their apartment. They suggest that he recruited Harlow for his ALF cell, but Rosemary knows this isn’t true. Later that night, Rosemary finds that Madame Defarge is gone.
As Rosemary herself points out, ever since Fern’s disappearance her life has been filled with sudden and unexpected absences. This celebratory moment is haunted not only by the absence of Lowell and Harlow, but also the sudden disappearance of Madame Defarge.
Themes
