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Endangered Sophie Sparknotes

Good Essays

Endangered The book Endangered is about the journey of survival and the connection between a young American girl (Sophie) and a bonobo monkey (Otto) in The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Sophie’s mother lives in the Congo and runs a bonobo sanctuary. While on her way to the sanctuary to visit her mother for the summer, Sophie sees a man on the side of the road with a bonobo. She notices how malnourished and how bad the bonobo looks and against the rules of her mother, Sophie purchases the bonobo. When she reaches the sanctuary her mother is upset because even though she had good intentions of saving the bonobos life, bargaining with the man Sophie inadvertently promoted the illegal sale of the endangered bonobos. While at the sanctuary Sophie struggles to improve Otto’s health and a …show more content…

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has had many conflicts. The people of the country are poor, but interest is shown in the country because of mining. When war did break out the rebels enslaved and took people to work in the mines. Also, with the status of the country, the bonobos are becoming more and more endangered. This is in part because of poverty. The bonobos are being poached and killed for their meat and people even use their body parts because of superstitions. On top of this, the bonobo’s are also losing their habitat. With an increase in a growing population more land is demanded taking from the bonobos. Logging companies are pushing further and further leaving the bonobos at risk for losing their habitat.
Overall I enjoyed the book. I understand that this story is fictional, but a lot of the references reflect real life in the Congo. The country with a complicated past and the turmoil that can still be seen today. It is fitting that Eliot Schrefer titled this book Endangered. It can make reference to the dwindling numbers of the bonobos, but also to Sophie’s exposure to danger while in the

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