它比这更深。我失去了要失去的东西:首先是我的母亲,然后是我的孩子。您所爱的什么都不会留下来。哈莉可以将这种态度称为拐杖,但她不知道,她没有如此深深的爱和迷失。正如洛伊德所说的那样,她从来没有像我所知道的那样出生。哈莉仍然可以冒险。
(It ran deeper than that. I'd lost what there was to lose: first my mother and then my baby. Nothing you love will stay. Hallie could call that attitude a crutch, but she didn't know, she hadn't loved and lost so deeply. As Loyd said, she'd never been born-not into life as I knew it. Hallie could still risk everything.)
“动物梦”中的主角反映了深刻的个人损失,感觉好像没有任何价值可以保持安全。她的母亲和婴儿的失去都产生了深深的悲伤和辞职感。这种经历塑造了她的世界观,使她感到脱节和警惕,与她的朋友哈莉(Hallie)不同,她仍然敢于拥抱生活和人际关系。
叙述者和哈莉之间的这种对比突出了他们对爱与失落的经历的差异。叙述者认为,哈里的无忧无虑的态度源于缺乏深刻的情感相遇,这是她对哈莉从未真正“天生”到生活中严厉现实的评论所表明的。这表达了这样一个观念,即真正的理解来自面对深刻的悲伤,这可以改变对爱和风险的看法。