The Book of Love
The Book of Bowie 2
by Link, KellyIn this chapter of *The Book of Bowie 2*, Bowie experiences life through various forms, beginning as a bird drawn to a place where Anabin awaits. His accidental break-in marks a return to human form, bringing a strange calmness as he navigates the physical world with its doors, windows, and bodily functions. Bowie reflects on the concept of birthdays and presents, recalling fragmented memories and the significance of these rituals for the living. He desires to remain with Anabin and contemplates what gift might be fitting, exploring the world from a crow’s perspective to gather insight into Anabin’s life and surroundings.
Bowie’s observations lead him to a theater where he witnesses unfamiliar forms of storytelling and combat, understanding spoken gibberish through a mysterious desire to comprehend. This experience contrasts with his past as a witch, a role fraught with danger and persecution. After the show, Bowie follows Anabin home but chooses not to enter, still wary after a distressing encounter with a woman and her child. Instead, Bowie takes to the skies again, embodying a nightjar among bats, observing the natural world and sensing a deeper connection to the boy named Thomas at the water’s edge.
At the beach, Bowie encounters Thomas, who recognizes him despite Bowie’s own confusion about his identity. The two share an intense moment of recognition and grief, with Thomas revealing a long-standing vendetta against Bowie, whom he calls Avelot. Bowie wrestles with his lost past and the pain of what he might have done, acknowledging the torment inflicted by Bogomil’s realm and the new identity he has assumed. Their interaction is charged with unresolved history, as Thomas struggles between vengeance and the recognition of Bowie’s suffering.
The chapter closes with a chilling tension as the cold night wind rises and Thomas admits to having sold himself to the devil to hunt Bowie. Despite this, he hesitates to kill Bowie while he inhabits the body of his brother, Kristofer. The encounter leaves Bowie yearning for answers about his past deeds, while Thomas withholds the truth, setting the stage for a fraught confrontation that blends memory, identity, and supernatural forces. The narrative delicately balances Bowie’s quest for self-understanding with the looming threat embodied by Thomas.
FAQs
1. How does Bowie’s experience of being a bird influence his understanding of the human world and his interactions with Anabin?
Answer:
Bowie’s time spent as a bird offers him a unique, detached perspective on the human world. It allows him to observe Anabin and the environment without the constraints of a human body, giving him insight into human behaviors and social customs, such as the concept of birthdays and gift-giving. This avian vantage point also facilitates Bowie’s reconnaissance as he follows Anabin to learn what might be an appropriate birthday present, highlighting his desire to connect and belong. The bird form symbolizes freedom and escape, contrasting with his later return to a human body, where he feels vulnerability and coldness, indicating his complex relationship with identity and belonging.2. What significance do birthdays and presents hold in the narrative, and how does Bowie’s reflection on these concepts deepen our understanding of his character?
Answer:
Birthdays and presents represent social rituals that affirm individual existence and value within a community. Bowie’s contemplation of these customs reveals his fragmented memory and estrangement from human traditions, as he recalls them as “random scraps of knowledge.” His uncertainty about having ever had a birthday himself underscores his alienation from human life and his longing for connection and recognition. The act of wanting to give Anabin a birthday present illustrates Bowie’s yearning for acceptance and his attempt to reclaim a sense of humanity, despite his otherworldly experiences and transformations.3. Analyze the interaction between Bowie and Thomas on the beach. What themes emerge from their conversation, and how do their identities complicate the narrative?
Answer:
The meeting between Bowie and Thomas introduces themes of memory, identity, revenge, and transformation. Both characters share a mysterious past involving a death and a vendetta, but Bowie’s amnesia complicates the situation. Thomas’s recognition of Bowie as Avelot, the brother’s killer, contrasts with Bowie’s self-identification as Bowie, a new persona shaped by his experiences in Bogomil’s realm. This encounter raises questions about the persistence of identity over time and through change, the burden of past actions, and the possibility of redemption or judgment. The supernatural elements, such as weather manipulation and the cold moonlight, intensify the tension, underscoring the blend of human and mystical forces at play.4. How does the chapter explore the theme of transformation, both physical and metaphysical? Provide examples from the text.
Answer:
Transformation is central to the chapter, illustrated by Bowie’s shifts between bird, crow, nightjar, and finally human forms. These changes symbolize his fluid identity and the struggle to reconcile past and present selves. Physically, he experiences freedom and limitation—soaring as a bird versus feeling vulnerable and cold as a boy. Metaphysically, Bowie confronts memory loss and the challenge of reclaiming a fractured identity, as seen in his conversation with Thomas regarding their shared history and names (Avelot, Kristofer). The transformations also extend to the environment, with Thomas manipulating weather and moonlight, suggesting a connection between identity and elemental forces. This theme reflects the complexity of existence and the interplay between inner self and external reality.5. Considering Bowie’s reflections on reading, witchcraft, and punishment, what does the chapter suggest about knowledge, power, and societal control?
Answer:
The chapter contrasts the liberating and dangerous aspects of knowledge and power. Bowie’s ability to read and understand language, despite initial doubts, symbolizes enlightenment and the reclaiming of agency. In contrast, witchcraft represents a form of power that is feared and punished by society, as Bowie recalls the church’s brutal persecution of witches. This historical context highlights the tension between individual empowerment and societal control, where knowledge can both elevate and endanger a person. Bowie’s identity as a witch and his experiences of suffering suggest that power is fraught with risk, navigating between self-realization and external oppression. The narrative invites reflection on how societies regulate knowledge and the consequences for those who transgress accepted norms.
Quotes
1. “He hadn’t meant to smash through the window. He had, in fact, forgotten that windows may be opened, not broken. But once he was inside the room and in the body of a boy again, he’d felt a kind of great calmness.”
This quote introduces Bowie’s disoriented but evolving state of being, highlighting his transition from a bird back into human form and his tentative reentry into a tangible, physical world. It sets the tone for his quest for belonging and understanding.
2. “Presents were things you made for someone. Out of cloth or carved from wood. Ribbons or even a sharp thing like a knife. You gave someone something because it was pretty or because they had a use for it.”
Here, Bowie reflects on the concept of gifts and birthdays—ideas partially forgotten yet partially understood—symbolizing his fragmented memory and his effort to reconnect with social customs and human relationships.
3. “Reading was a thing like birthdays. Whereas being a witch had been something that anyone could lay claim to, but most likely it resulted in the church imprisoning you or hanging you by the neck.”
This passage contrasts the familiar and the forbidden, showing Bowie’s awareness of both the cultural markers of civilization (reading, birthdays) and the dangers of claiming forbidden identities (witchcraft), underscoring the tension between knowledge and persecution.
4. “‘Who are you?’ he said. ‘Do you know me?’ … ‘Avelot is dead,’ Bowie said. … ‘And Avelot who killed him stands before me in his shape wearing his face, but I know you by your eyes. Avelot. One blue and one green. For three hundred years I have hunted you.’”
This pivotal exchange reveals the complex identity struggles and haunting past Bowie faces, as well as the deep history and conflict embodied by the characters Kristofer, Thomas, and Avelot. It marks an essential turning point in Bowie’s self-recognition and confrontation with his past.
5. “‘All this time,’ he said. ‘I sold myself to the devil so however long it took I might find you and make you render payment for what you did to my brother and me. And all this time I have no doubt Bogomil has made you suffer a thousand times more than ever I would have managed.’”
This powerful admission encapsulates themes of vengeance, suffering, and the long shadows cast by past deeds. It also introduces the supernatural element of Bogomil’s realm, framing the narrative’s exploration of pain and retribution.