"Gestures are all that I have; sometimes they must be grand in nature. And while I occasionally step over the line and into the world of the melodramatic, it is what I must do in order to communicate clearly and effectively."
These first lines of the novel immediately establish two of its predominant and closely related themes, gesturing and communication. Since Enzo is a dog, he cannot use language, so he relies on his actions to manipulate the outcomes of situations. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it fails. In the context of this quote, Enzo has urinated on the floor and positioned himself lying in the urine so that Denny will come home and decide to euthanize him, to put him out of his misery. But one of the unintended consequences is that Denny blames himself for being late coming home. Enzo never intended to make Denny feel bad. On the other hand, Enzo's desire to communicate and his hyperobservant abilities underscore the failure of human characters to communicate with one another.
"It is my opinion that the so-called dew claw, which is often snipped off a dog's foreleg at an early age, is actually evidence of a preemergent thumb. Further, I believe that men have systematically bred the thumb out of certain lines of dog through an elaborate process called 'selective breeding,' simply in order to prevent dogs from evolving into dexterous, and therefore 'dangerous,' mammals."
This quote introduces the reader to Enzo's tendency to form his own theories based on the things he sees on television. It demonstrates Enzo's fervor and charisma because even though his argument could be easily disproven with scientific facts, and even though he has an obvious bias for hoping that dogs are closely biologically related to humans, we understand where he is coming from emotionally. The quote also introduces a couple of important themes and symbols, namely the theme of evolution and the related symbol of opposable thumbs and dew claws. The quote reinforces the idea that Enzo's human soul is trapped in a dog body, because it positions him in a weird in-between state of having pride in his species, demonstrated by his tendency to defend dogs' biological closeness to humans, while also having such a strong desire to be different than what he is, i.e., more like a human. This longing he feels to be human feeds into the theme of rebirth and reincarnation, because these concepts give Enzo hope that someday his longing will be fulfilled.
"Drivers are afraid of the rain," Denny told us. "Rain amplifies your mistakes, and water on the track can make your car handle unpredictably. When something unpredictable happens, you have to react to it; if you're reacting at speed, you're reacting too late. And so you should be afraid."
This quote speaks to the titular metaphor of the novel, racing in the rain. Everything Denny says about racing in the rain applies more generally to living one's life in a state of uncertainty and being open to unpredictable events. Rain symbolizes conflict and variables which make it harder to operate. If we think of Denny's life as a race, then the tribulations of this novel can be considered his "rain." Losing his wife, fighting for custody of his daughter, and being accused of sexual assault by Annika are all events that threaten to throw Denny out of balance and into a metaphorical ditch. But time and again he and Enzo prove that it is how one reacts to conflict that ultimately determines one's fate.
I had always wanted to love Eve as Denny loved her, but I never had because I was afraid. She was my rain. She was my unpredictable element. She was my fear. But a racer should not be afraid of rain; a racer should embrace the rain.
This is another quote referencing the titular analogy of the novel, but this time, the character speaking (Enzo) applies the act of racing in the rain figuratively to his relationship with Eve. Enzo's quote sets the tone of guardedness and caution which characterizes his early relationship with Eve. Just as Enzo admits his fear of Eve, Eve demonstrates that she harbors some fear of Enzo; for example, when she tells Zoë not to play rough with Enzo because he could snap at her. Denny gets defensive of Enzo and says he would never hurt Zoë, but Eve cannot accept that until later in the novel when she asks Enzo to protect Denny and Zoë when she is gone.
"When a driver reacts, Denny says, it's important to remember that a car is only as good as its tires. If the tires lose traction, nothing else matters. Horsepower, torque, braking. All is moot when a skid is initiated. Until speed is scrubbed by good, old-fashioned friction and the tires regain traction, the driver is at the mercy of momentum. And momentum is a powerful force of nature."
This quote plays into the recurring theme of racing as a metaphor for life. It occurs right after Eve feels like her head is being crushed, so she packs a bag and drives herself and Zoë to her parents' house, leaving Enzo to fend for himself for three days. The positioning of this quote between Eve's loss of control and Enzo's dangerous situation of being locked in the house without food or water allows the reader to apply the metaphor of skidding off the track to both characters. Where Eve, reacting to the momentum of the moment, failed to consider the consequences of leaving, Enzo is careful not to overcorrect and freak out. He methodically rations crumbs on the kitchen floor, drinks clean water from the toilet bowl, and goes to the bathroom on a welcome mat so as not to dirty the floors. Horsepower and torque are examples of "showy" technical specifications that are used to set cars apart from each other, but this quote shows how those things don't matter in moments of conflict.
"In racing, they say your car goes where your eyes go. The driver who cannot tear his eyes away from the wall as he spins out of control will meet that wall; the driver who looks down the track as he feels his tires break free will regain control of his vehicle."
This quote introduces a sentiment that recurs frequently throughout the book, all of which are variations on the idea that "your car goes where your eyes go." This notion relates to Eve's sickness, and then comes back around when Enzo is diagnosed with hip dysplasia. Eve refuses to see a doctor about her condition because she refuses to let "her eyes go" to the possibility of a terminal illness. But once she receives that diagnosis, she cannot help but look ahead at the possible outcomes of her sickness, and she ultimately reaches the outcome when she dies. Similarly, Enzo was content to ignore his joint pain and general discomfort because he didn't want to resign himself to the fact that there was something wrong with him. But once the vet diagnosed him, his eyes went to hip dysplasia, and the condition worsened.
"We had smelled it, and it smelled like roast pig. Everybody likes the smell of roast pig. But what is worse, smelling the roast and not feasting, or not smelling the roast at all?"
This quote riffs off of the famous Alfred Lord Tennyson line from his poem, In Memoriam, where he writes, "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all." The line is ubiquitous to the point of becoming a cliche and has been accepted by many as a truism in the English language. The fact the Enzo arrives at a similar conclusion but applies it to roast pig demonstrates that his mind works like a sentimental, poetic human being, but he still retains the desires of a dog; in this case, the desire is roast pork.
"Who is Achilles without his tendon? Who is Samson without Delilah? Who is Oedipus without his clubfoot? Mute by design, I have been able to study the art of rhetoric unfettered by ego and self-interest, and so I know the answers to these questions. The true hero is flawed. The true test of a champion is not whether he can triumph, but whether he can overcome obstacles—preferably of his own making—in order to triumph."
This quote enters into the territory of metafiction, because Enzo compares Denny to other literary characters and groups Denny with a hero archetype, thus in a way making explicit the narrative structure of the novel which he narrates. The comparisons predestine Denny to some catastrophic failure, which in his case ends up leading to a long and ugly pair of court cases. The examples Enzo uses also establish him as a reader of classical literature, directly engaging with the canon. This quote, combined with Enzo's tendency to project television and movie plots onto the events in his and Denny's life, engage with the question of whether art imitates life or vice versa.
"Hands are the windows to a man's soul."
Hands, usually Denny's, are referenced throughout the novel. Hands are important to the act of racing because they must grip the steering wheel. Enzo pays attention to Denny's hands while he drives to determine Denny's mood. When his hands are steady and loose, he is in control. But when his hands grip the steering wheel tightly, and his knuckles are white, like on the long drive home from the cabin, Enzo knows that Denny feels like he lacks control of the situation.
Hands are also referenced later in the novel when Denny's parents come to visit. Denny's blind mother uses her hands to feel the contours of Zoë's face to learn what she looks like, and Enzo feels the presence of Denny when he is petted by Denny's father and suggests that their touches are much the same due to their family relation.
"The dawn breaks gently on the horizon and spills its light over the land. My life seems like it has been so long and so short at the same time. People speak of a will to live. They rarely speak of a will to die. Because people are afraid of death. Death is dark and unknown and frightening. But not for me. It is not for me. It is not the end."
Enzo narrates these words on the eve of his death, and they play on the theme of reincarnation and hope for life after death. At the twilight of Enzo's life, his last words begin with the image of dawn breaking. This juxtaposing represents the idea of rebirth; the end of Enzo's life is the beginning of his next life, just as the end of every day leads to the beginning of a new day. This quote also refers back to Eve's last conversation to Enzo, where she expresses her embrace of death and belief that death is not the end.
