Landscape with Invisible Hand

In Chapter 23, “Stuffed Animals in a Line,” Nattie organizes and sells her stuffed animals to get money for her family. The stuffed animals represent Nattie’s childhood, and her selling them symbolizes the loss of childhood. Nattie loses her childhood as a result of the vuvv invasion and its subsequent effects. Her father left, her mother can’t find work despite searching relentlessly, and her brother recently lost his source of income and has yet to secure another. Nattie demonstrates self-sacrifice, which isn’t typical for children. She has been forced to mature faster than is ideal. Her parting with her childhood at an early age reflects how children who live in capitalist-driven poverty often don’t experience a full childhood—something that should be a right, not a privilege.

Humans and vuvv communicate by using translator boxes. The translators symbolize the differences—both biological and social—between the vuvv and humans. The biological forms of humans and the vuvv differ significantly. The vuvv are described as resembling “granite coffee tables” (6), and they communicate with each other by using a fin that they rub against their bodies to make staticky grinding sounds similar to sandpaper or Velcro. Translator devices are used in all human-vuvv interactions in the novel, demonstrating that interspecies physical differences are significant enough that communication relies on these devices.