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Rosemary’s Mother
Lowell is Rosemary’s older brother. Rosemary idolizes him, but he is not always kind to her, and is arguably more protective of Fern than of his biological sister. Lowell has a strong sense of justice and, unlike Rosemary, is unable to turn his attention away from injustice—particularly when it comes to animal abuse. After Fern is given away, Lowell runs away from home, although not before stealing a key and freeing all the rats from his father’s laboratory. After Lowell is accused of setting fire to a laboratory at UC Davis, he spends the rest of the book on the run from the FBI. Rosemary discovers that Lowell has joined the Animal Liberation Front, and he is eventually captured for planning an attack on SeaWorld Orlando. It is implied that Lowell and Harlow form a romantic relationship and engage in activism for the ALF together. Rosemary notes that Lowell’s mental health suffers significantly as a result of his work publicizing and battling animal abuse. At the end of the novel he is in prison awaiting trial, and is not in a good mental state.
Lowell Cooke (aka “Travers”) Quotes in We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
The We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves quotes below are all either spoken by Lowell Cooke (aka “Travers”) or refer to Lowell Cooke (aka “Travers”). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Part 1, Chapter 1 Quotes
In 1996, ten years had passed since I'd last seen my brother, seventeen since my sister disappeared. The middle of my story is all about their absence, though if I hadn't told you that, you might not have known. By 1996, whole days went by in which I hardly thought of either one.
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Rosemary has promised to begin her story in the middle, which is the winter of 1996. She writes that by this point her family has “dwindled” to only her father, her mother, and herself. This quotation introduces the importance of absence in the book. Rosemary presents herself as someone defined by the experience of loss, which is unsurprising considering the foundational trauma of losing both her siblings. At the same time, there is also a paradox within this quotation: Rosemary says that the book is all about her siblings’ absence, but also admits that by the year 1996, she barely Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus co
Part 2, Chapter 4 Quotes
Lowell’s room smelled of damp cedar from the cage where three rats, washouts from our father's lab, would chirp and creak in their spinning wheel all night long. In retrospect, there was something incomprehensibly strange about the way any of the laboratory rats could transform from data point to pet, with names and privileges and vet appointments, in a single afternoon. What a Cinderella story!
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In the Cookes’ new house, Lowell sometimes allows Rosemary to come and sleep in his bed during the night. In this passage, Rosemary describes Lowell’s bedroom, which smells like the lab rats he keeps as pets. Rosemary’s reflection on the transformation of lab rats from experimental subjects to pets is one of the most important statements on the relationship between humans and animals in the book. Rosemary points out that our understanding of animals is largely socially constructed and dependent on context; we perceive and treat animals different depending on the situation in which we encounter them. This is certainly Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatu
Part 2, Chapter 5 Quotes
I would say that, like Lowell, I loved her as a sister, but she was the only sister I ever had, so I can't be sure; it's an experiment with no control.
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Rosemary has finally revealed to the reader that Fern is not a human, but a chimpanzee. Rosemary explains that she kept this fact a secret up until this point because she wanted the reader to truly understand and believe that she loved Fern like she would a human sister, without having this understanding be influenced by any assumptions about the impossibility of meaningful human-animal connections. In this passage, however, Rosemary admits that she can only hope that she loved Fern as a sister—but she can’t be sure, because she didn’t have any other sisters to compare Fern to. Once again, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a dese
Part 3, Chapter 5 Quotes
I came to UC Davis both to find my past (my brother) and to leave it (the monkey girl) behind. By monkey girl, I mean me, of course, not Fern, who is not now and never has been a monkey.
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Rosemary admits that at a certain point in her teenage years, she vowed to stop thinking about Fern altogether. At college, she avoids all courses that have anything to do with primates. In this quotation, she explains that while she chose to attend UC Davis in the hope of finding Lowell (who the FBI claims is living there), she fled Indiana in order to escape her association with Fern. These somewhat paradoxical aims hint at the impossibility of Rosemary achieving her dream; it is not exactly straightforward to reconnect with one of your siblings while strictly renegading the other to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequ
Part 4, Chapter 7 Quotes
It seemed to Lowell that psychological studies of nonhuman animals were mostly cumbersome, convoluted, and downright peculiar. They taught us little about the animals but lots about the researchers who designed and ran them.
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Lowell has found Rosemary in Davis, and after having dinner with Harlow the two of them spend all night in a diner catching up on one another’s lives. Lowell discusses the abuse of animals and his disapproval of their father’s scientific work. In this passage, Lowell articulates the feelings that Rosemary shares about animal research, yet did not have the words to express. Throughout the novel, Rosemary is confused about why her games and experiments with Fern are set up to test Fern against a human norm rather than the other way around. Although this could seem like simply childish Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam
Part 5, Chapter 5 Quotes
Poor Mom and Dad. All three of their children incarcerated at once; that really was bad luck.
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Shortly after Lowell leaves Davis, a police officer knocks on the door of Rosemary’s apartment and takes her in for interrogation. She confirms that she is Lowell’s sister but refuses to say anything else until she can speak to a lawyer. Rosemary imagines what will happen if she tells them about Lowell’s whereabouts, how all three of her parents’ children would end up “incarcerated at once.” This phrase frames Fern’s life in the South Dakota laboratory as akin to being in prison, further emphasizing the connection between (animal) cages and prison cells. It also indicates that there is something about Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus e
Part 6, Chapter 7 Quotes
Three children, one story. The only reason I'm the one telling it is that I'm the one not currently in a cage.
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Rosemary has revealed that just as she and her mother were preparing to publish their book, she was informed by her agent that Lowell was arrested for planning an attack on SeaWorld Orlando. At the time she is writing he has been awaiting trial for three months and is in a bad mental state. Rosemary notes with sadness that she is the only one of her siblings who is not “in a cage,” again drawing a connection between animal cages and prison cells. Although Rosemary does not say so explicitly, she also implies that it is rather arbitrary that she Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi
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