The Lioness

The novel’s Serengeti setting establishes an implicit comparison between human and animal predators. The landscape hosts its share of dangers, from crocodiles and poisonous trees to snakes, leopards, and hyenas. Time and again, however, characters observe that the human predators are deadlier and more frightening because while animals kill for sustenance or protection, humans engage in violence for a multitude of reasons, many of which are difficult to understand or predict.

The many wars and human rights abuses that the novel references frame human violence as inevitable, often springing from ideological or economic motivations. Reggie’s experience in Okinawa reminds the reader that the World War II era is within living memory for these characters. Likewise, the Simba rebellion in the Congo and the Cold War struggle between the US and Russia serve as reminders that humans fight and kill over ideas. Meanwhile, the references to uranium and gold mines in the Congo suggest how readily humans will exploit one another for economic profit. That economic factors also drove the brutal enslavement experienced by Terrance’s ancestors frames such violence as a constant across eras.

The novel also explores violence on a more intimate scale. A passing reference to cheerleaders who shut Carmen into a locker references the bullying of those seen as undesirable or inferior but also hints at the group psychology that contributes to such violence. Meanwhile, Glenda Stepnov’s abuse of her children is implied to have stemmed partly from substance use and mental illness, but other factors were at play as well. The novel suggests that she viewed Katie, whom Glenda put on a punishing regimen of diet and exercise, as an extension of herself and thus abused her to “prove” her own desirability. A similar impulse toward self-aggrandizement and validation, much like that of the Hollywood predators Katie has encountered in her career, may have motivated her abuse of her son, but the novel’s overall impulse is to avoid this kind of explanation. Billy is never able to understand what motivated his mother to shut him in the coat closet so frequently, nor why his father—who only struck Billy once, as he recalls—never intervened to protect him. The violence was unpredictable and illogical, which is part of what made it so traumatic.

One final motive for cruelty that the novel posits is simply the drive for personal power. When Katie has a private conversation with Charlie Patton and makes a joke about photo safaris being less “manly” than hunting safaris, Charlie immediately attacks David. In defending her husband, Katie realizes “she had shown [Charlie] her belly” (269), implying that the combination of her own vulnerability and Charlie’s insecurity caused him to lash out, shoring up his own ego. Violence here becomes a mechanism for psychological survival as well as physical survival.

In short, the novel suggests that humans are the more dangerous beasts when motivated by selfishness, greed, or the sheer will to dominate. While a handful of characters are killed by animal predators, most of the fatalities in the novel are caused by humans. How one can protect oneself from and survive the human predator is a key question posed in the novel.