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Chapter 47
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Art of Racing in the Rain, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
What It Means to Be Human
Language and Storytelling
Love and Family
Illness and Death
Destiny and Spirituality
Summary
Analysis
At the vet, Enzo remembers the doctor manipulating his hips painfully, and then he was given a shot and fell asleep. When he wakes, groggy, he hears things like “dysplasia,” “chronic arthritis,” and “pain threshold.” Denny carries him to the lobby, where he continues to understand only snippets of conversation, especially “eight hundred twelve dollars.” Denny hands the vet tech a credit card and kneels down to comfort Enzo on the floor.
The reader has to follow Enzo through his drug-induced groggy state, and we learn only as much about the situation as Enzo does. Again, the idea of money sticks out to Enzo, and the reader understands that this is not an inexpensive visit to the vet.
Themes
The tech calls for Denny and tells him his card has been declined. Denny offers another card, which also doesn't work, and then finally his ATM card. Beginning to panic, Denny offers the vet and the assistant the $300 he took out in cash when he deposited his paycheck earlier that day. The vet tells Denny to relax and offers to take the cash and run the balance in the morning. Embarrassed, Denny asks if he can keep $20 to put gas in his car. The vet nods and gives Denny his receipt.
Trish and Maxwell have accomplished their goal of draining Denny's bank account. Consider Enzo's earlier discussion of what makes a hero, and his belief that a hero's problem being self-made is important in making the reader care. Here, we see the result of Denny refusing to drop the custody suit.
Themes
At home, Denny sits on his bed with Enzo and tells Enzo that he can't keep going. He tells Enzo that he can't even afford to keep Enzo. Enzo wishes desperately that he had thumbs and a tongue and could shake Denny and tell him that this is just a crisis that will pass, but he can't. He can just sit and listen.
Denny is broken and beaten, and Enzo is forced to reckon with the fact that he's a dog and can't do anything for Denny except listen, and wish for human traits that would allow him to communicate better.
Themes
