“Besides, babies are squishy. You know what isn’t squishy? An egg”, the narrator of the story exclaims. I was struck by this line as this is when I realized it was not a joke that she was pregnant with an actual baby lizard. Sense of touch is something we all are familiar with. Imagining having an egg inside my body that I could literally touch from outside and feel is what caused a tingling sensation to run down my spine and gave me goosebumps.
The story jumps right in, without questioning the mechanics of conception of the lizard-baby, with a nonchalance and confident story telling that defines weird fictions in the genre of magic realism. For me, the story was a different kind, something I’m not used to. Is there even the slightest possibility of this happening in real life? Irrespective of a child being however he/she is, the story goes onto show how mother’s love is unconditional. However, having a lizard baby is complicated than having a normal baby. The narrator’s family member go on to accept the way baby is. Everyone is welcoming. Although the story creeped me out many a times but as long as there was love and care in between the characters, I was fine with it.
From a feministic lens, I could see how the narrator takes pride in being a mother. She was calm and confident throughout the story. Kudos to her on being a strong character. Irrelevant of what kind of baby it is, it’s a powerful thing to be able to give life to someone.
Was the story a true happening or was the author using metaphors to convey a different plotline? Was the author trying to metaphorically imply that the baby was a disabled baby by comparing it with a lizard? The insinuation could have been anything but we can only conclude from what was actually written. The lizard baby was an anomaly, something not normal. This deviation from normalcy is what kept me interested in the story. But to not be normal is different from being disabled. The lizard-baby, could have the ability to function like normal human babies. In that case, it would not be a disabled baby but a ‘different’ baby.
