Henrietta Rose-Innes
Green Lion by Henrietta Rose-Innes opens with Con, a non-descript, listless young man tasked with picking up the belongings of his childhood friend, Mark, who is recovering in hospital after being mauled by one of the two black-maned lions at the zoo. The pair of lions were part of a breeding program to save black-maned lions from extinction. The male was put down after the accident, leaving Sekhmet, the lioness, as the lone survivor.
Reluctantly, Con picks up Mark’s belongings from the zoo and returns them to his mother. He intends to visit Mark in the hospital, but he never does. Instead, he puts on Mark’s uniform, adopts his role as a zoo volunteer, and assumes responsibility for taking care of Sekhmet.
The novel unfolds by alternating between Con’s past and present. Con reveals himself to be selfish, inconsiderate of others, emotionally impotent, deceptive, and unwilling to take responsibility for his actions even when he has put others at serious risk. Denied knowledge of his father, his childhood consists of living with a single, dysfunctional mother who clutters her home with other people’s discarded junk and has a revolving door of temporary boyfriends in an attempt to fill the gaping void in her life. As an adult, Con is unemployed, lacks ambition, and spends his days in his girlfriend’s apartment rummaging through her belongings in her absence. He abdicates responsibility for his life and even relies on her to select his outfits. He is a passive spectator to his own life. In his effort to assume an authentic identity, he is chameleon-like, taking on the personality of those around him.
But things change when he volunteers at the zoo. As the narrative progresses, Con becomes increasingly fascinated by Sekhmet. He hears her, smells her, and can feel her presence long before he sees her. His senses come acutely alive. Electrical currents charge through his emotions as he experiences an atavistic excitement at being in the presence of such a fierce, wild, untamed physical power. His desire to get close to her is mingled with terror.
Animals play a prominent role in the novel. Key rings and postcards of animals are stuffed in bags or fall out of pockets. Animal masks are worn in play productions. Some animals are stuffed and mounted on walls; some are alive and interact with humans. And there are those whose presence can only be sensed behind a fenced mountain reserve designated as a conservation area. The tension between humans who live on one side of the fence and the animals who live on the other side is palpable. But the boundaries are fluid. The interactions are troubled. Animals and humans encroach on each other’s designated terrains with tragic consequences.
The novel explores the ways in which humans try to fill a vacancy in their lives by connecting with what is wild and crackles with energy. Mark walks into the lion’s den. Mark’s father kills wild animals and stuffs them. The members of the Green Lion club derive their excitement by touching wild animals. And Con forms a bond with Sekhmet that is stronger than any bond he forms with a human.
The novel suggests that as we encroach on the habitat of wild animals and threaten their very existence, we lose something vital in ourselves. Entrance into their habitat is described in mythic, primordial terms, evoking a time when life sizzled with a frenetic energy. Our desire for connection is manifested in our longing to be close to and touch wild animals as if by touching them we can somehow revive the deeply buried wildness in our own natures. Instead, however, we are reduced to seeing them behind glass windows or metal barriers. We wear animal masks and mimic their movements. We carry their images in postcards and on key chains. And we stuff and mount their bodies, proudly displaying them as our trophies.
A thought-provoking read and well worth the effort.