Pax

“Duty calls, and we answer in this family.”

Peter’s grandfather says this quote to Peter. This line implies that duty to one’s country or duty to a larger cause is more important than the personal convictions or desires of an individual. This is a value long upheld by Peter’s family, which Peter challenges over the course of the book.

“The kit had seen a bird and had strained against the leash, trembling as though electrified. And Peter had seen the bird through Pax’s eyes—the miraculous lightning flight, the impossible freedom and speed.”

This is one of the first examples we see of Pax and Peter merging as though they share one consciousness, one mind, and one soul. Pax is the one having the experience in real life, but Peter is experiencing the bird as if he was Pax. This quote indicates the depth of their bond, but also the way their relationship works in this story.

“Pax was startled by the image she communicated to her brother: a cold, howling wind; a mated pair of foxes, struggling with something that reminded Peter of his pen—steel, but with jaws and clamps instead of bars. The steel jaws and the snowy ground were smeared with blood.”

Although, Bristle intends to communicate this memory to Runt, Pax is also able to pick up on the details. Bristle doesn’t use words: this is a psychic transmission of trauma and lived experience. Here, Pax is merging with Bristle’s memory and seeing it through her eyes, but also feeling it as if he were her. He is feeling the howling wind and the clamps, personified as ‘jaws’ which mean death. Bristle views this steel world of human invention in a very primal way: one animal consuming another.