Summary

Chapter 3 is titled “The Lives of Animals” and is subtitled “ONE: The Philosophers and the Animals”. It opens with John waiting for his mother at the airport. Two years have passed and he is struck by how old she looks. She is visiting Appleton College to give a lecture and is staying with John, his wife Norma, and their children. John has kept his mother’s identity a secret at the college because he wants to succeed on his own merit, without her reputation and success. Elizabeth and Norma do not like one another. As Elizabeth begins her lecture, she acknowledges her previous lecture on Kafka and seeks to clarify her intention.

As John watches her, he thinks about how stifled her delivery is. This counters the strength of what she tries to accomplish. She begins to lecture on animals being led to...