Reading Group Guide
INTRODUCTION
Madelene
Burden seems an unlikely heroine.
The beautiful Danish wife of Adam, a distinguished
British behavioral scientist, she is unobtrusive,
acquiescent, and "nothing much really"
according to her father. Spending each day like her last,
she perfects her make-up and wanders the grounds of her
colonialist in-laws' vast manor, not-so-slowly drinking
herself numb off a homemade concoction of 99.6% ethyl
alcohol and water.
Erasmus seems an unlikely romantic lead.
Weighing in at a hefty 300 pounds, he is hairy,
lice-infested, and just so happens to be an ape. Victim
of a botched animal-smuggling attempt, Erasmus is
believed to be "a new and hitherto unknown mammal,
an apparently highly intelligent anthropoid ape."
Adam Burden and his calculating sister Andrea (who,
ironically, heads up London's Animal Welfare Foundation)
anticipate the opportunity of a lifetime by introducing
this new species to the world. Certainly this will ensure
Adam's appointment to the directorship of the New London
Regent's Park Zoological Garden, soon to be the world's
most powerful animal institution.
Seeing in Erasmus a kindred spirit, Madelene realizes
that "she too was an ape, for, while she might well
be able to leave this cage, and this house, she would not
get very far before running up against the financial,
social and marital barriers that circumscribed her
life." Enlisting the aid of the still-befuddled
smugglers, Madeline and Erasmus make a daring and
dramatic escape over the balconies and rooftops of London
to the Edenic rural game preserve of St. Francis Forest,
where Madelene explores her "animal" side and
Erasmus his "human." Over the course of the
next few weeks the unlikely pair experience each other
physically and mentally, eventually fall in love, and
plot their next move.
Madelene and Erasmus can only keep the outside world
at bay for so long. Towards the novel's conclusion, we
learn that Erasmus has come to England with a purpose
after all, and much like the scores of animal activists,
zoologists, journalists, and police who are trying to
hunt the couple down, he too has a hidden agenda
one which affects not only Erasmus and his
"people" but Madelene, a society's conscience,
and the entire human race as well.
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
The Woman and the Ape is Danish
author Peter Hoeg's fourth novel. His works prior to
this include Borderliners, The History of
Danish Dreams, and the critically acclaimed,
internationally successful thriller Smilla's Sense of
Snow. Keeping close to his roots, he currently
resides in Copenhagen with his wife and two daughters.
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
- Erasmus informs Madelene that where he comes
from, his kind are called "people" and
hers "animals." In what ways throughout
the book does Hoeg project the notion that
animals are more like people and people more like
animals?
- Madelene comes from Denmark, where the "very
atmosphere was crystalline and under constant
threat of shattering and no voice was ever raised
above a whisper for fear of starting an
avalanche." In what ways are Erasmus and
Madelene more similar than different? Do you feel
they are held together more by their
commonalities or differences? What do you think
Hoeg is saying about the relationship between
humans and animals?
- Discuss Madelene's "resurrection" every
morning. Why is it necessary? How is this
resurrection different by the end of the book?
- When the public learned that Erasmus was not the
only highly intelligent talking ape in their
midst, "the nation froze and ground to a
halt. Every visible human activity ceased, even
crime came to a standstill, paralyzed by a fear
greater than greed." How do you account for
that kind of reaction?
- Describe instances, images, and/or metaphors
throughout the book in which Hoeg expresses
feelings of confinement and captivity.
- Where do you find Hoeg's images of civilization
and paradise? Is it possible for the two to
coexist?
- Near the end of the novel, Dr. Bowen confides
that, according to Erasmus' DNA analysis,
"We had it all wrong. Burden, his sister and
I. We thought we would learn something about one
of those hominids which came before man. But you
are not what went before. If anything, you are
what comes afterward." What do you think
Hoeg is saying about human evolution?
- In the novel, the scientific world of animal
research is portrayed as cruel, exploitative, and
tortuous. Where does thirst for knowledge end and
brutality towards animals begin? When, if at all,
can zoological institutions be justified? Can
animal research for human "well being"
be justified?
RELATED
TITLES
Smilla's Sense of Snow