Carnal Knowledge
By T. C. Boyle
“Everyday is Auschwitz for the animals.”
“In my own books, I've tried to keep a sort of
Beckettian humor about the grim things of our world,
while struggling toward the light. Each book, each new
story, is for me a discovery akin to the discoveries
scientists make, only I'm discovering you and me and
the parameters of our behavior as spiritual apes on a
chunk of rock in a universe so vast you just want to
put a gun in your mouth when you try to contemplate
it.”
Thomas Coraghessan Boyle
T. Coraghessan Boyle—T.C. for short—was born on
December 2, 1948, in Peekskill, New York, a small town on the
Hudson Valley that he often fictionalizes as “Peterskill” in
some of his short stories. When he was 17 he changed his
middle name to Coraghessan. Boyle’s love of writing and
literature has been apparent his entire life: he majored in
English at the State University of New York at Potsdam,
graduating in 1968, and after he spent four years teaching at
Lakeland High School in New York. Later he returned to his hometown of Peekskill to teach
ninth grade English. In 1972, Boyle got a job as fiction editor for The Iowa Review, and five
years later he received a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the
Arts. In 1977 he earned a Ph.D. in 19th Century British Literature. A year later he became a
member of the University of Southern California’s English Department, where he founded the
school’s undergraduate creative writing program. He has been working there as an English
professor ever since. He lives in Santa Barbara with his wife Karen and their three kids,
Kerrie, Milo, and Spencer. Boyle is both a novelist and short story writer and has published
over seventy pieces throughout his career, many of which have been translated into over a
dozen different languages. A lot of his work tends to explore the “Baby Boom Generation”
and praise the anti-hero, and he specializes in satire, humor, and realism. Boyle likes to
show the unpredictability of nature and humankind’s effects on the environment. He has
received numerous literary awards, including the PEN/Faulkner Award, the PEN/West
Literary Prize, the Commonwealth Gold Medal for Literature, and six O. Henry Awards for
short fiction. His stories regularly appear in major magazines, like The New Yorker,
Harper’s, Esquire, and Playboy. He says his literary idols include Gabriel García Márquez and
Flannery O’Connor.
Animal Rights
The fight for animal rights is primarily a moral issue, with the goal of gaining fair treatment
for all creatures without exploitation. There are varying degrees to which some activists
choose to further their cause. Some advocate total animal liberation, which includes no
meat and dairy products, aquariums, circuses, hunting or fishing, fur or leather, and
laboratory research. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is often argued to
be the most successful and well-known organization of modern day that practices total
animal liberation. Others take a more moderate approach, acting only for abolishing and
preventing cruel treatment of animals. Such practices are often associated with the ASPCA
(American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and the American Humane
Society.
- Animal Experimentation
Used for testing of medical treatments, such as vaccines and antibiotics. Animals
often play a part in researching and developing cures for diseases such as AIDS and
various types of cancer. Many activists argue the manner in which they are treated is
immoral, not necessarily the purpose they serve to the scientific community.
However, they are also used to test the toxicity of cosmetics and hygiene products.
Laws exist in some countries to act as guidelines for what is allowed in
experimentation.
- Animals in Sports and Entertainment
Sports such as bullfighting, dog fighting, cock fighting, badger baiting, and hunting are
the cause of numerous animal injuries and deaths. Most of these are purely for
human gratification; however, in Spain bullfighting is a traditional event that is
considered acceptable. Circuses, aquariums and zoos are often under the
microscope for reports that they promote unnatural living habits by controlling living
space, food, and climate. However, these
institutions say they play an important role in
zoological education.
- Animals as Food and products
Many animals are subject to forced-feeding, restricted and unsanitary living spaces,
as well as body alteration. For example, geese are force-fed to increase their liver
size for pate de fois gras, beaks are cut from poultry to prevent attacks that may
result in a loss for the company, and veal calves are kept in crates to restrict muscle
development. This has triggered many people to become vegetarian or vegan. In
addition, animals are often used to develop products. Fur clothing is a common
example, but controversy also surrounds the ivory trade, whaling, seal fishing and
the use of rhinoceros horns in medications. However, there is hardly any debate in
the killing of garden rats, house mice, and bugs.
Quotes
“I don’t want to make it too much of the moment, don’t want to mythologize it or clutter the
scene with allusions to Aphrodite rising from the waves or accepting the golden apple from
Paris, but she was a pretty impressive sight” (268).
“It was the moment we’d been waiting for. A cry went up, shrill and ululating, and we
converged on the lone old woman like a Cheyenne war party scouring the plains” (273).
“I thought of the turkey farmer asleep in his bed, an entrepreneur working to make America
strong, a man with a wife and kids and a mortgage… but then I thought of all those innocent
turkeys consigned to death, and finally I thought of Alena, long-legged and loving, and the
way she came to me out of the darkness of the bathroom and the boom of the surf” (277).
“As I inched closer, the tires creeping now, the pulse of the lights in my face, I saw that the
road was coated in feathers, turkey feathers. A storm of them. A blizzard. And more: there
was flesh there too, slick and greasy, a red pulp ground into the surface of the road, thrown
up like slush from the tires of the car ahead of me, ground beneath the massive wheel of the
truck. Turkeys. Turkeys everywhere” (280).
Terms
Style: The distinctive manner in which a writer arranges words to achieve particular
effects.
Tone: The author’s implicit attitude toward the people, places, and events in a story.
Irony: A device that reveals a reality different from what appears to be true.
Verbal Irony: Consists of a person saying one thing but meaning the opposite. It
is usually not openly aggressive, but rather more subtle.
Sarcasm: A form of verbal irony that is calculated to hurt someone by false praise.
Situational Irony: Exists when there is an incongruity between what is
expected to happen and what actually happens.
Dramatic irony: Creates a discrepancy between what a character believes or
says and what the reader understands to be true.
Discussion questions
1. T.C. Boyle uses very vivid language throughout the story. Does this persuade the reader to
relate more to Jim or Alena, if at all?
2. How does Alena’s tone differ from Jim’s? Consider dialogue, thoughts, motives, as well as
actions.
3. Does Jim ever show any genuine interest in fighting for animals’ rights? Were you
surprised at the story’s ending? Support your answer with examples.
4. What was ironic about the freed turkeys and what happened to them after? Identify and
describe another point of irony in the story.
Optional: Are you a vegetarian/vegan? If so, why? If not, would you consider altering your
diet after reading Carnal Knowledge and the animal rights background provided? Why, or
why not?