Chapter 60 Summary: The Goat Incident
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
The narrator sits on a crowded beach near a restaurant and overhears the thoughts of an elderly couple, Olive and Michael, whom she recognises from the plane. She learns of Michael’s upcoming biopsy results and their deep, quiet love for each other. Her new psychic ability extends to predicting immediate events, such as the waiter’s arrival. She then hears a distant gunshot and mentally perceives a man named Nicolau on a boat called Eighth Wonder, aiming a rifle at a goat on the rock of Es Vedrà. She feels the goat’s grief and attempts to enter Nicolau’s mind to stop him. She succeeds in making him unable to pull the trigger, but a colleague, Hugo, takes the weapon and fires. The goat falls dead into the sea, and the narrator is left with a wrenching sense of failure.
Key Events
- The narrator eavesdrops on Olive and Michael, sensing their fears and love.
- She demonstrates her growing psychic abilities by predicting the waiter and perceiving distant events.
- She hears a shot, envisions Nicolau preparing to shoot a goat on Es Vedrà.
- She feels the goat’s emotions and tries to prevent the killing.
- Nicolau finds he cannot fire, but Hugo takes over and shoots the goat.
- The narrator experiences visceral grief at the goat’s death.
Character Development
- The narrator: Her psychic powers are rapidly expanding, allowing her to read thoughts, see distant scenes, and influence others’ actions. The incident leaves her horrified and uncertain about her role.
- Olive and Michael: Their private anxieties reveal vulnerability and enduring love, adding emotional depth to the chapter’s human dimension.
- Nicolau: A reluctant shooter who feels guilt but is bound by his employer’s orders.
- Hugo: More willing to carry out the killing, yet afterwards stares at the water “lost in remorse,” suggesting hidden conscience.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- Psychic intervention vs. powerlessness: The narrator can enter one mind but cannot stop the act, highlighting the limits of her abilities.
- Development vs. nature: The shooting is sanctioned by local government for development, symbolising the cost of progress on wild landscapes.
- Animal empathy: The narrator experiences the goat’s grief, placing animal suffering at the story’s emotional core.
- Burden of knowledge: Knowing what will happen without being able to prevent it becomes a source of torment.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter marks a turning point in the narrator’s relationship with her powers. She moves from passive observer to active intervener, yet fails. The incident raises ethical questions about when to intervene and whether any interference can succeed. It also deepens the novel’s critique of unchecked development and its cost to living creatures. The goat’s death serves as a dramatic illustration of the narrator’s growing isolation: she alone perceives the violence that others ignore.
Study Questions and Answers
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How does the narrator demonstrate her new psychic ability in this chapter?
Answer: She reads Olive and Michael’s unspoken thoughts, predicts the waiter’s arrival, and mentally sees Nicolau and the goat on Es Vedrà from a great distance. -
Why does Nicolau fail to shoot the goat, and who kills it instead?
Answer: The narrator enters Nicolau’s mind and prevents his finger from pulling the trigger. Frustrated, his colleague Hugo takes the rifle and fires, killing the goat. -
What theme does the failure to save the goat illustrate?
Answer: It illustrates the limits of the narrator’s psychic intervention, the cost of inaction, and the moral responsibility that comes with extraordinary knowledge.