Significance of Martina's Plastic Animal

On her desk, Martina has a plastic animal that looks like both a frog and a chameleon and is very multi-colored. Snyder says that it's unlike anything found in nature and that "it looks like one thing from one angle, another thing from another angle, and—when viewed as a whole—is something in a category unto itself" (244). This strange animal is a metaphor for the complex subject of domestic violence. It looks different from different perspectives and demands a holistic approach to be properly understood.