Red Peter (symbol)
Red Peter becomes a symbol of a violation of nature. Shot, then “captured on the African mainland by hunters” and starved, Red Peter stands for all those living creatures the mankind has been mistreating for centuries. Elizabeth Costello uses example of Red Peter as an example of a hybrid, a creature which doesn’t fully fit in anywhere.
Meat-eating as Nazism (allegory)
Nazism becomes an allegory of meat-eating. Those who criticize vegetarians often say that living creatures are meant to be killed and eaten by people. Elizabeth Costello says that those people, who were kept in the camps, were innocent, but almost every citizen of the Reich was sure that they were meant to be killed too. They treated people “like animals” and their victims went to their death “like ship to the slaughter”. According to Elizabeth, Nazis and meat-eaters use the same reasoning for killing.
A trial (motif)
The whole novel is a story about a trial. Elizabeth has to present and then defend her ideas in front of the audience, just like in the court. They asks her questions, make her explain this or that detail, they don’t take pity on her because of her age. More often than not her words are misinterpreted and then she has to put up with numerous accusations. She has to explain herself one more time, trying to prove that she is not “a fascist bitch”. When she dies, she has a chance to give a speech in a court, which reminds her of one from Kafka's body of writing.
