More human than gods
When Vera asks George Caldwell to remind her names of all gods and goddesses, he complies with her wish. Instead of enumerating their names, they start playing a game. He names her a god and she comes up with a funny description of his drawbacks. In such a way, we learn that “Zeus, Lord of the sky” is not only “cloud-gathering king of weather” but also a “lecherous murder”. His bride Hera, “patron of holy marriage” is not able to put an end to Zeus’s betrayals. Poseidon, “master of the many-maned sea” is just “a senile old deckhand”. The irony is that those mighty gods and goddesses are as sinful and flawed as people.
Fear of truth
George Caldwell says that he doesn’t want to go to the doctor or, as he calls him, “the bastard”, for “he’ll tell me the truth”. The irony of this phrase is that no matter how many times Chiron says that he wants to die, he is still scared of the process. Somewhere deep down in his soul, he may cherish the idea that everything is going to be all right. To think that you might have a terminal disease is not as frightening as an actual confirmation of it.
The importance of finding your place
When Peter asks his father why they can’t let their dog, Lady, stay indoors, George says “don’t take animal out of nature”, otherwise it can die. The irony of George’s words is that he is also an animal, even if just partially, he is still an animal. He is a human only “from the waist up”. But it seems that he can’t put up with an animal inside himself, for he says that he hates nature. Ironically enough, such a fierce wish not to be a part of nature might be one of the causes of his gloominess.
