What makes a human, human? This is a question I anticipated facing last semester as we drudged through philosophers, but instead I must answer it now, plagued by the narrative of a trauma-stricken girl and her imagined character Niko the Monkey. At first, I was thrown off by the way in which this narrative is presented: the tense and the numbered paragraphs confused me, but once I got used to them I was able to look past them and see what the author intended. I think.
The main theme I was able to pick up was the question of humanity. Niko is a human, kind of. He was born human. He is otherwordly, however. He doesn't speak, and he is extremely attractive, except for his "devilish" teeth and smile that cause his peers to run from him in fear. He lives alone, except for the companionship of these monkeys, who seemingly neither accept nor reject him. He lives there because he has been cast out of society and doesn't seem to fit in even in isolation. He does not seem to know who he is - the closest thing he has had to a friend is a goat, whom he named after himself. And Niko is simply an expression and characterization of Isora's PTSD. Using that information, paired with Isaro's anecdotes, that she has no idea who she is. She states that her adoptive parents (or "angels") unintentionally took part of her humanity away when they saved her from her tragic country. Without the grieving process, without the struggle that comes with trauma, she lost her sense of direction. Niko mentions that happiness is just something you have to give up. Isaro believes this as well, but while Niko lives dispassionately, Isaro experiences grief and sadness. Perhaps she idealizes apathy, and that is why she writes Niko the way he is. Or maybe that's just how she's coping now with the trauma of her past. What do you think?
PS Commented on Annakate and Jamie
The main theme I was able to pick up was the question of humanity. Niko is a human, kind of. He was born human. He is otherwordly, however. He doesn't speak, and he is extremely attractive, except for his "devilish" teeth and smile that cause his peers to run from him in fear. He lives alone, except for the companionship of these monkeys, who seemingly neither accept nor reject him. He lives there because he has been cast out of society and doesn't seem to fit in even in isolation. He does not seem to know who he is - the closest thing he has had to a friend is a goat, whom he named after himself. And Niko is simply an expression and characterization of Isora's PTSD. Using that information, paired with Isaro's anecdotes, that she has no idea who she is. She states that her adoptive parents (or "angels") unintentionally took part of her humanity away when they saved her from her tragic country. Without the grieving process, without the struggle that comes with trauma, she lost her sense of direction. Niko mentions that happiness is just something you have to give up. Isaro believes this as well, but while Niko lives dispassionately, Isaro experiences grief and sadness. Perhaps she idealizes apathy, and that is why she writes Niko the way he is. Or maybe that's just how she's coping now with the trauma of her past. What do you think?
PS Commented on Annakate and Jamie
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