He shot off the tail. He shot away chunks of meat below the ribs...He shot randomly, almost casually, quick little spurts in the belly and butt. Then he reloaded, squatted down, and shot it in the left knee. Again the animal feel hard and tried to get up, but this time it couldn't quite make it...Nothing moved except the eyes..." -pg. 75 and 76
I had one reaction to this passage- hatred. I hated Rat Kiley for doing it, I hated the other soldiers for watching coldly, and I hated O'Brien for writing it in the first place. I suppose it may be thoe most literarily successful part of the book for igniting such a reaction. I could perfectly visualize the scene, especially the baby buffalo looking up at the men, trying to get up, desperatly trying to get away from the source of so much pain. Reading or watching animal suffering is worse for me than human suffering. They look to us for protection, or at least for a fair chance at life. Man is the only animal that gets pleasure from killing. Animals kill for survival, never for pleasure. Rat could have taken his aggression out on a village hut, a rock, anything but the baby buffalo. Just for this passage, I don't feel I'll ever recommend this book to anyone.
Why do you think people are often more upset by animal cruelty than violence against humans?
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