58 pages • 1-hour read
Three-Inch Teeth
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Zeus II
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death and animal death.
Zeus II is the mechanical killing bear created by LOR and symbolizes evil and murderous revenge in the text. Cates thinks of the device as “complicated, ugly, and temperamental […] But still a marvel” (214). The device is kept in the back of Cates’s truck and weighs over 800 pounds. Made of scrap metal and industrial tubing, its chief part is a scissored extendable jib arm with a pair of steel jaws at the end. Three-inch bear teeth are riveted with screws to the jaws. When high pressure is released into the tubing through the cylinders at the other end, the jib extends, and the jaws snap shut with a force of up to 2,000 PSI. The pressure is released by lowering a joystick attached to the device.
The bear is a human corruption of animal nature. Not only was the original Zeus—from which the jaws are stolen—taxidermized and mounted by humans in a museum, but another human also goes on to dismember the bear and use its body parts for foul purposes. Another bear is then blamed for the killings facilitated through Zeus II. Therefore, the device also represents the desecration of nature by people.
Birds of Prey
An important symbol in the novel, predatory birds represent the amoral aspect of nature. While humans tend to view animal behavior as “good” or “bad,” an animal’s behavior is beyond ethics, driven mostly by survival. In the case of birds of prey, the survival instinct involves both hunting as well as the domination of other species. An example of a predatory bird’s behavior is yarak, a term from falconry, in which a bird is in its peak hunting state. Hungry enough to be savage but not so hungry that it is weak and starving, an apex predator in yarak, like the peregrine falcon, can be “the most ruthless species on earth” (181). Nates observes that a peregrine falcon in yarak can kill an entire group of sage grouse—not to eat them but “to punish that group” (182).
Birds of prey are also an omen in the novel, such as when an eagle circles overhead right before Clay Jr. is killed. Furthermore, the peregrine falcon in particular is a symbol for Nate. Like the falcon in yarak, Nate goes into a killing frenzy at the end of the novel, targeting not just Cates but also LOR and Johnson. Nate commits the murders not just to achieve justice but to punish all wrongdoers.
House Signs
Box uses house signs as signposts for the quirky, eccentric, and complex nature of Americana. The signs are also a source of humor and irony in the plot, as in the case of Never Summer Ranch, the lettering of which is made of elk antler tines. Sheridan notes that some of the letters are missing, so the sign reads “NEV_R_UM_ER_ANCH” (135). The juxtaposition of the whimsical name, the elk antlers, and the fallen letters conveys a sense of failed grandiosity about the ranch. This is further emphasized by Leon Bottom’s admission that though he has bought the ranch, he does not know quite how to run it.
Another significant sign is the former one in front of Cates’s house: “Dull Knife Outfitters, C&C Septic Tank Service and Birthplace of PRCA World Champion Cowboy Dallas Cates” (197). While Cates loved the sign’s inclusion of his family trade and his own glory, the sign has been replaced by one for a llama farm. Cates sees the swapping of the signs as the obliteration of his small-town cowboy roots by hipster America and strikes out. House signs, like advertisement billboards, represent aspiration and prestige. At the same time, they also symbolize empty swagger and a bottomless quest for self-aggrandization.
Unlock the meaning behind every key symbol & motif
See how recurring imagery, objects, and ideas shape the narrative.
- Explore how the author builds meaning through symbolism
- Understand what symbols & motifs represent in the text
- Connect recurring ideas to themes, characters, and events