Petting Zoo

Publication(s)

  • First publication
    • Dinosaur Fantastic II, 1997
  • Wolfe collection(s)
  • Other anthologies
    • Return of the Dinosaurs, 1997
    • Year's Best SF 3, 1998

Wolfe's comments from the Introduction to Starwater Strains

"Petting Zoo is a favorite story of David Hartwell's, the master editor who edited this book and most of my others. Do you like dinosaurs? I loved them when I was a kid, and I've noticed that Hobbe's buddy Calvin loves them at least as much. Perhaps David feels the same way."

Summary

An man visits a talking purple dinosaur at the zoo, one he created as a boy. The man has been "reeducated" and the dinosaur tamed to give children rides around the zoo.

Analysis

  • The final exchange: "Your kind used to rule the Earth." ... "Yeah," he mumbled, "You too." This indicates humans no longer rule the Earth either. Robots do.
  • The purple dinosaur is a reference to Barney,
  • Some of the incidents with Roderick and Rex seem to refer to Danny and the Dinosaur, a popular children's book.
  • Roderick is from Old German and means "famous power." Rex is from Latin and means "king."
  • Sources of quotes
  • Meanings of names
  • References to other works
  • Theories about what happens under the surface, what the narrator isn't telling us, who the narrator is and when and why s/he is telling the story, what the whole thing "means," etc.
    If there are multiple or competing theories, each one should be given a name with a three-bang (!!!) header; if the page begins to get out-of-hand from the size of these, as could happen in a few cases, they should be shuffled off to their own page(s).
  • Etc.

Unresolved Questions

< Mute | Starwater Strains | Castaway >