Motherhood

Motherhood is perhaps the most central theme to the novel as a whole. The novel opens as China, the fighting dog raised and owned by Skeetah, is giving birth to very valuable puppies. Much of the narrative is invested in describing the efforts of Skeetah and Esche to provide for the infant animals. Esche herself is pregnant, and realizes she has no choice but to give birth, so China's own puppies become a very important metaphor for what her future holds, and also becomes entangled with the mythology of Jason and Medea that Esche is currently fascinated with. Esche compares herself to Medea, and the feelings that she has for Manny with the feelings that Medea must have had for Jason, and wonders how it will feel to her when Manny inevitably passes her up for another girl, which she is rightly convinced he will do as soon...