Two But Not Two
Peter takes a chance and confesses to the woman who has become his caretaker and teacher following an injury about the special bond he shares with Pax. Despite Pax being a fox, he feels that the relationship is not that of a boy and a pet or even a boy and an animal, but something much closer to approximating soul mates who connect with each other in an inexplicable way. Vola, unexpectedly, does not laugh, but shares the Buddhist concept of “two but not two.”
“This is not just a piece of wood. This is also the clouds that brought the rain that watered the tree, and the birds that nested in it and the squirrels that fed on its nuts. It is also the food my grandparents fed me that made me strong enough to cut the tree, and it’s the steel in the axe I used. And it’s how you know your fox, which allowed you to carve him yesterday. And it’s the story you will tell your children when you give this to them. All these things are separate but also one, inseparable.”
The Girl Who Went to War
Twenty years earlier, Vola was a medic in another war. The experience transformed her to her very soul. Imagery that pits the innocence of peaches (no pun intended) against the pitiless quality of war is conveyed quite effectively:
“The orchard was an untended mess, but there were still some peaches hanging on...I suddenly remembered: Lord, I had loved those peaches. I used to sneak out in the middle of the night to pick them. I’d sprawl on the grass underneath those trees with fireflies flashing all around and katydids singing, a heap of peaches on my belly, and I’d eat them till the juice ran into my ears. I remembered that so clearly. I could smell that memory, I could hear it, and I could taste it. But I couldn’t figure out how that girl could be the same person who had put on a uniform, picked up a gun, and done the things I did in the war.”
Vola/Yoda
When you look at the names, it eventually hits that Vola sounds not too different from Yoda. Literally, however, Vola sounds a lot different than Yoda in terms of syntax. If one rearranges the order in which Vola speaks her words, however, things go right back to Vola sounding quite a bit like Yoda. Which, after all, she is kind of supposed to:
“Oh, let me tell you, feelings are all dangerous. Love, hope . . . Ha! Hope! You talk about dangerous, eh ? No, you can’t avoid any of them. We all own a beast called anger. It can serve us: many good things come of anger at bad things; many unjust things are made just. But first we all have to figure out how to civilize it…What, you want me to give you a philosophy bingo card for your trip? Like: When you smell honey in the woods, run because the bear can’t be far behind…Oneness is always growing in the world, boy. Two but not two. It’s always there, connecting its roots, humming.”
My Fox/My Boy
The “two but not two” connection between Peter and Pax is palpable enough to drive the narrative. Without that special bond, the whole premise collapses. One of the ways in which the bond is made very special is through the imagery of how the two characters refer to each other when apart. It is imagery that recurs throughout the book, Peter referring to his fox and Pax referring to his boy.
“Whether you help me or not, I’m going to get my fox.”
“A sudden hope rejuvenated Pax . Have you seen my boy?”
