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Violins/Fiddles
For most of The Plague of Doves, reptiles and amphibians (especially snakes and salamanders) seem to symbolize danger or evil. Early in the novel, for example, pompous priest Father Cassidy crosses himself when he sees a salamander, explaining that “there are some who believe those creatures represent the devil.” Later, when Evelina has a bad acid trip, she hallucinates all kinds of reptiles, a series of visions so terrifying that they eventually land her in a mental hospital. Yet if these sorts of animals sometimes strike fear into the hearts of the narrative’s characters, this terrifying power can also be a source of strength. When Marn Wolde is bitten by a snake, she fears she will die—but instead, she finds the courage she needs to escape her husband’s cult (“I was the poison and I was the power,” Marn thinks proudly). And in her darkest hours as a patient at a mental hospital, Evelina finds comfort in talking about catching salamanders with her brother Joseph, a scientist who finds the amphibious creatures endlessly frustrating. Ultimately, then, the novel’s amphibians and reptiles suggest that what a person finds scary depends on perspective—the same creature that causes terror in one moment can bring comfort in the next.
Reptiles and Amphibians Quotes in The Plague of Doves
The The Plague of Doves quotes below all refer to the symbol of Reptiles and Amphibians. 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:
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13. The Kindred
Quotes
I started up in a moment of fear, and as I did, my copperhead struck me full on, in the shadow of my wing, too close to my heart not to kill me. […] I lay down. I let the poison bloom into me. Let the sickness boil up, and the questions, and the fruit of the tree of power. I let the knowing take hold of me. The understanding of serpents. My heart went black and rock hard. It stopped once, then started again. When the life flooded back in I knew that I was stronger. I knew that I’d absorbed the poison. As it worked in me, I knew that I was the poison and I was the power.
Get away from him and take the children, the serpent said to me from her glass box, as she curled back to sleep in her nest of grass.
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And as he bucked and sank away I got the picture. I’d tie a loud necktie around his throat, winch him up into the rafters. Got Bliss cutting him down. Got the sight of him lying still in the eyes of others, got the power of it and the sorrow. I got my children’s old gaze, got them holding me with quiet hands, and got them not weeping but staring out calmly over the hills. I got Bliss running mad, foaming, blowing her guts, laughing and then retrieving Billy’s spirit from its path crawling slowly toward heaven, got the understanding she would organize the others and take over from Billy, but that before they could pin me down in the Manual of Discipline we’d have scooped up the money already and run.
Oh yes, I got us eating those eggs at the 4-B’s, me and my children, and the land deed in my name.
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Reptiles and Amphibians Symbol Timeline in The Plague of Doves
The timeline below shows where the symbol Reptiles and Amphibians appears in The Plague of Doves. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
3. A Little Nip
...the Latin names for plants, Evelina admires him greatly. Together, the two of them collect salamanders in jars. One time, Joseph decides he wants to vivisect a salamander. The salamander survives...
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Later that summer, on an especially drizzly day, Joseph and Evelina return to catching salamanders. They are midway through this activity when Father Cassidy arrives. As Clemence pours the priest...
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...comparison, and he storms out. In his eagerness to leave, however, Cassidy trips on a salamander, giving Mooshum even more fodder for his mockery.
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4. Sister Godzilla
A few days later, Evelina is giving a science presentation on snakes when Corwin raises his hand and politely asks a question about Godzilla. Mary Anita laughs...
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13. The Kindred
...of their many trips south, Billy preaches to a group of women who pray with snakes. Marn instantly connects with the serpents and even uses “pictures” with them, encouraging the snakes...
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...late at night and threatens the children. This frightens Marn, and her fear spooks the snakes, causing one to bite her. Marn thinks she might die, but after a week, she...
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...her go to Seattle to raise money for “the kindred.” On the way there, Marn’s snakes convince her that she must leave Billy and bring her children with her. When Marn...
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...is tenderly sexual; in others, he is needy and sad. Marn starts sleeping with her snakes curled up in the bed she shares with Billy. Billy claims to hate this, but...
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...pain and terrible boredom. But soon, Marn’s “pictures” start to come, and she imagines her snakes telling her to poison Billy with their venom. Warren flashes across Marn’s mind: “It’s on...
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...one.” At the end of it, Billy falls asleep, and Marn plunges a syringe of snake venom into his neck. As he dies, Marn gets a series of “pictures”—staging Billy’s death...
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16. The Reptile Garden
...The acid throws Evelina into a tailspin: she locks herself in her room and hallucinates snakes, lizards, and all kinds of deadly reptiles. It takes a week for Evelina to shed...
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...days. She flashes back to her terrible acid trip, when all she could see were reptiles. Eventually, the head of the ward announces that they are moving Evelina into the patient...
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...slaughter, Evelina tells him to “shut up.” Joseph visits, and Evelina tells him about the reptiles in her hallucinations and asks him to help her identify them. Joseph holds Evelina’s hand,...
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