Once you are on show, you have no private life.
As a supporter of idealism, John can’t understand why his mother reaches topics which are traditionally not discussed. According to him, there should be something called a “private life”, that part of a life, which protects us from seeing the most unpleasant and disturbing things. He uses an example of a zoo to illustrate his point, saying that it is okay to clean up after animals but it is wrong to watch them doing their business. His mother doesn’t agree with him and says that “once you are on show, you have no private life”, which means that all aspects of one’s life or an idea should be discussed, regardless whether they are pleasant or not.
What sort of creature is she, really?
Although John is Elizabeth’s blood and flesh, her son, he can’t say that he knows his mother too well or at least well enough to understand her. He looks at her and can’t identify what “sort of creature” she is. Later on, he comes to a conclusion that she is “a cat”. She is “one of those large cats that pause as they eviscerate their victim and, across the torn-open belly, give you a cold yellow stare”. This comparison indicates that John thinks of her as a person, who is capable of cruelty.
To be alive is to be a living soul.
Who or what is a living soul? According to Elizabeth, “to be alive is to be a living soul.” This means that she believes that people and animals are equal, that we are all “embodied souls”. If we are all living souls, then we should treat animals in a way we expect other people treat us. She proclaims the need to respect everything alive.
Perhaps we invented gods so that we could put blame on them.
People are not flawless and this is the thing one can’t deny. We makes mistakes daily and don’t always bother ourselves to correct them. The thing which is interesting about us is that we also don’t want to take responsibility. According to Alice, the main reason, why people “invented gods” is to get an opportunity to “put blame on them”. This helps mankind to put up with a feeling of guilt.
