Only the Animals

by

Ceridwen Dovey

Gallos Character Analysis

In “Somewhere Along the Line the Pearl Would Be Handed to Me,” the mussel Gallos is Sel’s best friend. He grew up in Hudson Bay and is a poet. When Muss arrives from the West Coast, Gallos is enchanted by his talk of how life is meaningless and his insistence that experience is everything. At first, Gallos and Muss talk for hours straight about everything. Like Sel, Gallos agrees to follow Muss across the continental U.S. for San Francisco. He joins Muss in several endeavors, as when Muss goes to tie up a predatory dog whelk on the battleship they attach to. However, once the mussels arrive in Pearl Harbor, Gallos is old and stops writing. Eventually, he becomes so depressed that Sel and Muss stop visiting him.

Gallos Quotes in Only the Animals

The Only the Animals quotes below are all either spoken by Gallos or refer to Gallos. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Interconnectedness of Humans and Animals Theme Icon
).
Somewhere Along the Line the Pearl Would Be Handed to Me: Soul of Mussel Quotes

Muss said [the zebra mussels] were halfway to covering the whole bottom of the lakes too, that there was not a single native mussel left to tell us stories.

Related Characters: Sel (speaker), Muss, Gallos
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
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Gallos Quotes in Only the Animals

The Only the Animals quotes below are all either spoken by Gallos or refer to Gallos. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Interconnectedness of Humans and Animals Theme Icon
).
Somewhere Along the Line the Pearl Would Be Handed to Me: Soul of Mussel Quotes

Muss said [the zebra mussels] were halfway to covering the whole bottom of the lakes too, that there was not a single native mussel left to tell us stories.

Related Characters: Sel (speaker), Muss, Gallos
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis: