Moo: A Novel

“[W]hen they spoke of Maine/ their voices had the glint of sea and sky.”

The synesthesia asserting that Reena’s parents’ voices sounded like something visual—the “glint of sea and sky” creates a beautiful, lyrical tone. This tone depicts the setting of Maine positively and supports the book’s arguments regarding The Rewards of Rural Life.

“One of them said, You’re going to get all Maine-y.”

Reena struggles to understand her friends’ defensive negativity. The importance of their reactions demonstrates The Value of Companionship to Reena. Reena worries about her identity changing, and a taunt like “You’re going to get all Maine-y” lands particularly hard. Reena’s confusion and concerns about her own identity support the book’s thematic interest in Growing Into a New Life.

“His heroes, now, took on the look of farmers brandishing halters and conquering giant cow-like creatures.”

Luke processes his experiences and feelings through his art. The change in the subject matter of his drawings demonstrates that he, too, is changing and Growing Into a New Life. After just a short time in Maine, he has a newfound respect for the people he sees tending and training cows at Birchmere Farm. Clearly, Luke is already beginning to benefit from The Rewards of Rural Life.

“An enormous golden cat/ fell straight down from a tree overhead/ landing at our feet.”

The startling image of the large cat dropping from the tree reinforces the sense that unusual things happen at Mrs. Falala’s house and is a part of the characterization of the elderly woman as witch-like, as if this cat might be a sort of witch’s familiar. But the cat is “golden,” and this diction foreshadows that Mrs. Falala, too, has a golden side. Like the cat dropping at the children’s feet, Mrs. Falala will lay a gift at their feet—one that they will also greet with consternation, not immediately recognizing it as a gift.

“He said that he wanted to change direction and do something completely different, maybe something outdoors, maybe something with landscaping…or animals…or painting…”

Reena’s father’s changing ambitions demonstrate that he is Growing Into a New Life and characterize him as a flexible, open-minded person. The specific possibilities he lists here foreshadow what he will eventually end up doing when Reena suggests that he become the caretaker for Mrs. Falala’s property.

“I stood there

wanting to say something

wanting to keep him there

a little longer

this gangly Zep boy

but no words came out of my mouth.”

Reena’s thoughts emphasize Zep’s physicality: She wants to keep him physically present, and she notices that he is “gangly.” This in combination with her inability to find words suggests that Reena is beginning to develop a crush on Zep. Her feelings for this boy she sees working with cows demonstrate that she is Growing Into a New Life, but that she is not yet comfortable enough with this new life to actually speak to him.

“Disrespectful. This was not a good word in our family.”

The bold font Creech chooses for the word “disrespectful” emphasizes how dreadful a word it really is in Reena’s family, demonstrating a key aspect of their values. This supports the novel’s thematic argument about The Importance of Respect.

“It sounds like a great Maine-y thing to do. Right, Reena? Right, Lukey?”

Here, Reena and Luke’s father tries to feign optimism about their upcoming task of taking care of Zora the cow for Mrs. Falala. His repetition of the question “Right?” and his use of the diminutive “Lukey” indicate that he is not as certain as he wants to appear. Reena and Luke’s parents are a little out of their depth in their new environment—none of the family members have yet completely adjusted. They are still in the process of Growing Into a New Life. Still, he wants to insist that the children help Mrs. Falala, because of The Importance of Respect. His use of the term “Maine-y” is unintentionally ironic, as he means it positively, but this diction repeats the term that Reena’s friends earlier used to mock the idea of her living in this new place.

“Touch it, Luke said.”

Luke, who dislikes animals, is changing. He is still not quite brave enough to touch Zora himself, but he wants Reena to touch the cow for him, as a kind of proxy. That Reena does so despite her own fear demonstrates that both children are Growing Into a New Life. The way the children rely on one another as they push past their old boundaries also demonstrates The Value of Companionship.

“It was the perfect Maine-y kind of day.”

Reena now feels at home in Maine and the meaning of the term “Maine-y” has shifted again for her: She uses it here to describe a day full of simple pleasures, beautiful surroundings, and companionship. She is Growing Into a New Life where she very much appreciates The Rewards of Rural Life.

“I felt lucky

that Luke was with me

that I wasn’t wandering

this new town

alone.”

Even after Reena starts to feel comfortable in her new town, she watches her brother pedaling ahead of her and remembers The Value of Companionship. The diction “wandering” stresses how lost and aimless she would feel without her brother, and the isolation of the word “alone” on its own line conveys how stranded she would feel without him.

“[S]omething popped in my chest/ sending bubbles floating up to my brain.”

When Reena juxtaposes her own happiness in Luke’s companionship with Zora’s isolation, she feels a burst of empathy and understanding. The figurative language Creech uses to describe Reena’s feelings—metaphorically comparing the sudden understanding that begins in Reena’s heart and travels to her head to an explosion like a champagne bottle bursting open—conveys the sudden relief of pressure Reena feels when she sees a way to help the ornery cow.

“[A]nd in the dreams

I combed her

and talked with her

and she was warm

and comforting.”

Reena is Growing Into a New Life; she has gone from being someone afraid of cows and disgusted by their smells and body fluids to someone who dreams at night of being with Zora. Zora has become important to Reena, an individual to be talked with, and Zora, like other parts of Maine that Reena has come to value, is a source of comfort. Reena’s dreams demonstrate both The Value of Companionship and The Rewards of Rural Life.

“I was afraid they would laugh at me, but they didn’t.”

Even though Reena has come a great distance toward Growing Into a New Life, she is still nervous that the owners of Birchmere Farm-—and, more significantly, Zep and Beat—will make fun of her concern that Zora is lonely. Her compassion for Zora and the growth of her relationship with the cow she was once so afraid of shows when she is able to dig down and find the courage to ask for help with Zora despite her fears of being laughed at. That no one does laugh at her reassures her that her concerns have merit and she is actually succeeding at fitting into her new environment.

“My mouth flopped open like a thirsty dog.”

In this simile, Reena compares her reaction to the idea of spending time with Zep to the eagerness of a thirsty dog. The comparison conveys both her feelings in the moment and her embarrassment over those feelings and shows that she has a sense of humor about herself.

“It smelled of cows and rain and piney chips.”

When Reena’s family first moved to Maine, she found the sight of Birchmere Farm in the rain to be “muddy and sloppy” and complained that it smelled “of sawdust and manure” (31). Now that she has spent more time in Maine and learned to appreciate The Rewards of Rural Life, she spends a rainy day in the barn at Mrs. Falala’s, enjoying the same smells that once disgusted her. The ironic turn of events conveyed in this olfactory image demonstrates Reena’s success at Growing Into a New Life.

“She headed for the barn, her long braid swinging, and there was Zora

her tail swishing

left to right

right to left

the braid

and

the tail

swish

swish

swish

swish.”

Several times throughout the story, the imagery and diction used to describe Zora’s tail and Mrs. Falala’s braid make implicit comparisons between the two; here the analogy is finally explicit. Mrs. Falala has just shown Reena how to use gentle coaxing and reassurance to get Zora to do what she wants her to do. The frequent comparisons of the woman and the cow throughout the text imply that, if Reena wants to get Mrs. Falala to accept her ideas, gentle coaxing would be the best strategy with her, as well.

“I had a quick glimpse of me in my room

in our old apartment back in the city

an inside girl

and now here I was

an outside girl

a

cow

girl.”

Reena’s epiphany when her parents praise her skills at handling Zora reveals that her transformation—her Growing Into a New Life—is complete. The italics in the parallel phrases “an inside girl” and “an outside girl” emphasize the change from one identity to the next. This moment provides a clear answer to the central conflict question of whether Reena will succeed in her new environment and learn to manage Zora.

“I love that Lukey boy.”

Reena declares her love for her little brother after he informs her that he will defend her if Mrs. Falala dares to criticize her showing at the fair. Her diction, referring to Luke as “Lukey boy,” conveys a tone of affection that stresses The Value of Companionship and characterizes Reena as a girl who appreciates and loves her family and is unafraid to be open about those feelings.

“No, no, no, don’t say that.

Don’t even think those bad things…No, no, no, don’t say those bad things.

Don’t think them.”

Creech uses several forms of repetition in the poem “Speculation” to stress the extremity of Luke’s and Reena’s emotions as they worry about what is going on at Mrs. Falala’s house. Other lines of the poem feature anaphora and parallelism, and these four lines feature epizeuxis in the repetition of “No, no, no.” The close restatement of ideas in these four lines also functions as a kind of refrain the children are using try to mentally block out the worst possibilities of what may have happened to Mrs. Falala or Zora.

“One time she drew lightning bolts

and spiders and bats coming out

of the window. Very creepy.

She was in kind of a bad mood that day.”

After Luke tells Reena about the pleasant memories that Mrs. Falala represents in her drawings of things floating out of the attic window, he shares that sometimes she also represented negative memories. It is clear that these bad memories still affect Mrs. Falala, because she is in a bad mood on the day she draws them. This is another indication that Mrs. Falala will not completely change.

“[O]ur phone number is written in three places in her kitchen.”

When Mrs. Falala goes missing, Reena wonders why Mr. Colley called her parents. Reena’s mother’s answer—that Mr. Colley knows all about Reena and Luke’s visits to Mrs. Falala, and their phone number is written in three different places in Mrs. Falala’s kitchen—indicates that it is not just the children who have become attached to Mrs. Falala: she has become very attached to the children, as well, showing The Value of Companionship in the elderly woman’s life.

“Zora seemed to want extra attention, nudging me with her big head, nuzzling my arm.”

Zora’s agitation on the day when the family is searching for Mrs. Falala foreshadows the grim discovery that Mrs. Falala has died. Zora’s behavior also shows that she is clearly attached to Mrs. Falala and is seeking comfort from Reena, showing The Value of Companionship.