“That's the problem with people who are not human. You can't tell how badly they're hurt, or how much they need your help, and until you ask, they don't always know how to tell you.”
The narrative is essentially about the relationship and bond between a human being and a non-human. Initially, Borne is oblivious to the ways of humans but gradually comprehends his existence and reality. Similarly, Rachel undergoes this transition where her worldview changes as she learns to care for the creature. In the process, she begins sharing a strong bond and love with Borne which causes her motherly instincts to crop up. This journey becomes harder since not communicating with something you love and are responsible for is frustrating. A predicament in her life also comes with the need to love and protect the creature but also protect the world from it. Akin to raising a child, nurturing for Borne has to become second nature for Rachel as she learns to understand it.
“Once, it was different. Once, people had homes and parents and went to schools. Cities existed within countries and those countries had leaders. Travel could be for adventure or recreation, not survival. But by the time I was grown up, the wider context was a sick joke. Incredible, how a slip could become a freefall and a freefall could become a hell where we lived on as ghosts in a haunted world.”
The story is set in a dystopian city where everything is in ruin and civilization has collapsed. The only functional system is the Company—which is believed to have collapsed too—as society has been reduced to prehistoric times. Their biotech pursuits have left the city with creatures that endanger the lives of humans and any other future progress. This post-apocalyptic world is a commentary on the excess industrialization, exploitation, and corporate greed that destroys the universe. The statement illustrates a world that was before where society was functioning productively, complete with a government and luxury. As such, the inhabitants are aware of a reality that was ideal yet theirs is on a free-fall with no hope of recovery.
“But minds find ways to protect themselves, build fortifications, and some of those walls become traps.”
Though Rachel has learned to survive as a scavenger in this ruined city she still dwells in the past mentally. To survive in this post-apocalyptic city, detaching from emotional connections and attachments should be the default setting. In the quote, Rachel asserts the coping mechanisms that people adopt to survive through the hardships of the new world. Therefore, the text shows that the new attitudes are just traps that confine them from their true desires and feelings. For instance, inhabitants of the city search for biotech creatures that recreate forgotten memories in their brains. Moreover, the bond that forms between Rachel and Borne reinvigorates her need to connect and have strong emotions.
