How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I am very ready to be a man now, though I realize I will lose all that I have been. All of my memories, all of my experiences. I would like to take them with me into my next life—there is so much I have gone through with the Swift family—but I have little to say in the matter. What can I do but force myself to remember? Try to imprint what I know on my soul, a thing that has no surface, no sides, no pages, no form of any kind. Carry it so deeply in the pockets of my existence that when I open my eyes and look down at my new hands with their thumbs that are able to close tightly around their fingers, I will already know. I will already see. (1.4)
Enzo's belief that humanity isn't just about being human, but also knowing what it means to be a good human, is apparent here, and it's a topic that he comes back to throughout his story. In our opinion, some people could learn from this dog about how to be people.
Quote #2
I also believe man's continued domestication (if you care to use that silly euphemism) of dogs is motivated by fear; fear that dogs, left to evolve on their own, would in fact, develop thumbs and smaller tongues, and therefore would be superior to men, who are slow and cumbersome, standing erect as they do. (5.10)
Conspiracy theories about the domestication of dogs aside, Enzo does touch on a good, if embarrassing, point about humanity: on the whole, we tend to be a little leery of things we don't understand. As history will tell us, our track record for embracing new things isn't stellar. Unless it's food, because you can slap a new recipe on Pinterest, and we'll love it on principle.
Quote #3
I work at my human gait, for instance. I practice chewing my food slowly like people do. I study the television for clues on behavior and to learn how to react to certain situations. In my next life, when I am born again as a person, I will practically be an adult the moment I am plucked from the womb, with all the preparation I have done. (12.4)
This notion that being a human is something you can prepare for is repeated often, but it seems like when Enzo says he prepares, he's focusing more on what he thinks humans are, rather than what they actually are.