Plot Summary
Poisoned Beginnings, Broken Home
Steven, a young man trapped in a squalid apartment with his grotesquely abusive mother (the Hagbeast), is poisoned both physically and emotionally by her. She feeds him revolting food, dominates him with cruelty, and has crippled his only companion, Dog. Steven's world is one of filth, fear, and impotence, where the outside world—seen through TV and windows—seems impossibly distant and perfect. His sense of self is eroded by years of abuse, and he is haunted by the belief that he is fundamentally different and incapable of change.
Meat Plant Initiation
Steven begins work at a meat processing plant, a place of industrialized death and dehumanization. He is introduced to the brutal realities of animal slaughter by Cripps, the foreman, and Gummy, a mutilated worker. The plant is a microcosm of violence and alienation, where the act of killing is routine and numbing. Steven is both repulsed and fascinated, seeing in the slaughterhouse a reflection of his own internal decay and the possibility of transformation through violence.
Lucy's Obsession with Filth
Lucy, Steven's upstairs neighbor, is obsessed with the idea that emotional and psychological trauma manifests as physical poison inside the body. She compulsively searches for this poison in herself and others, using medical videos and self-examination. Her fixation mirrors Steven's own sense of contamination and longing for purification. Their connection is forged through shared alienation and a desperate hope that love or surgery might excise their inner rot.
The Hagbeast's Tyranny
The Hagbeast's domination intensifies as she uses food as a weapon, force-feeding Steven and threatening his only sanctuary. Her grotesque body and habits are described in visceral detail, symbolizing the inescapable, generational nature of trauma. Steven's attempts at resistance are met with humiliation and violence, reinforcing his sense of powerlessness and dependency. The kitchen becomes a battleground where every meal is a test of will.
Dreams of Escape
Steven clings to fantasies of escape, imagining a life of love, family, and belonging modeled on TV shows. He dreams of Lucy as a potential savior, a woman who might help him build a new life. Yet, his fear and self-loathing keep him trapped. The outside world remains terrifying, and his plans for freedom are continually undermined by his own inertia and the Hagbeast's psychological grip.
Cripps and the Slaughtermen
Cripps, the charismatic and sadistic foreman, preaches the gospel of self-realization through killing. He idolizes the slaughtermen, presenting them as men who have transcended weakness by embracing violence. Cripps grooms Steven, suggesting that only by confronting and unleashing his darkest impulses can he become truly free. The slaughterhouse becomes a temple of transformation, where death is both ritual and liberation.
The Ritual of Killing
Steven is drawn deeper into the slaughterhouse's rituals, culminating in a scene where he is sexually assaulted by Cripps during a killing. The act is both traumatic and transformative, blurring the lines between violence, sex, and power. Steven is left physically and emotionally shattered, but also senses the possibility of change—a new strength born from horror. The experience marks a turning point in his willingness to act.
Lucy and Steven Connect
Steven and Lucy's relationship becomes sexual, but is fraught with desperation and dysfunction. Their intimacy is marked by mutual use and a shared belief that love might be a cure for their brokenness. Lucy's self-mutilation and Steven's fantasies of normalcy collide, creating a fragile alliance against the world. Yet, both are haunted by the fear that their poison is inescapable.
Poison for Poison
Inspired by Cripps and emboldened by his experiences, Steven decides to kill the Hagbeast by poisoning her with his own excrement. The act is both a literal and symbolic attempt to reverse the flow of abuse. The mother-son dynamic becomes a grotesque contest of endurance, as each tries to outlast the other's capacity for filth and suffering. The kitchen becomes a site of escalating horror and resistance.
The Cow's Warning
Steven is visited by a talking cow, who warns him that Cripps's philosophy of power through violence is a dead end. The cow reveals the existence of an underground society of escaped cows, who have built their own world beneath the city. The cow urges Steven to reject Cripps's path and consider the consequences of becoming what he hates. This surreal encounter introduces the possibility of alternative forms of rebellion and community.
Descent into Violence
Steven's campaign against the Hagbeast escalates, culminating in a series of increasingly violent and degrading acts. He is forced to confront the reality that killing does not bring the liberation he hoped for, but instead deepens his alienation. The boundaries between victim and perpetrator blur, as Steven becomes both the agent and the product of violence. His sense of self fractures under the weight of his actions.
The Shit-Eating Contest
The contest between Steven and the Hagbeast reaches its climax in a grotesque meal where both are forced to eat each other's excrement. The scene is a literalization of their toxic relationship, a final test of will and endurance. Steven ultimately prevails, but the victory is hollow—he is left physically and emotionally depleted, and the Hagbeast's power lingers even in defeat.
Becoming a Killer
Under Cripps's guidance, Steven is forced to kill Gummy, a fellow worker, in a ritualized act of violence. The murder is both a test and a rite of passage, marking Steven's full initiation into the cult of killing. The act is described in graphic detail, emphasizing the loss of empathy and the emergence of a new, predatory self. Steven feels a surge of power, but also a growing emptiness.
The Cows' Secret Society
Steven is led by the talking cow into the labyrinthine tunnels beneath the city, where a society of escaped cows has established its own order. The cows, traumatized by their experiences in the slaughterhouse, seek revenge against Cripps and the men who tormented them. They enlist Steven as their agent, offering him a new sense of purpose and belonging. The boundaries between human and animal, oppressor and victim, begin to dissolve.
The Hagbeast's End
Steven finally murders the Hagbeast in a scene of extreme violence and degradation, suffocating her with his own feces. The act is both cathartic and horrifying, a culmination of years of abuse and hatred. With her death, Steven believes he has freed himself and can now build the life he has always dreamed of with Lucy. The flat is cleansed of the Hagbeast's presence, and Steven feels a fleeting sense of triumph.
Lucy's Search for Purity
Lucy, unable to escape her obsession with inner poison, descends into self-mutilation and madness. She attempts to excise the imagined stone of filth from her body, ultimately killing herself in the process. Her death shatters Steven's fragile new world, leaving him alone and bereft. The promise of love and family is revealed as an illusion, and the cycle of trauma continues.
The Rise of Steven
With the Hagbeast and Cripps dead, Steven assumes leadership of the underground herd. He orchestrates raids on the surface, leading the cows in acts of violence against humans. The cows, now addicted to killing and human flesh, worship Steven as a messiah. He is both empowered and corrupted by his new role, finding in violence a substitute for the love and belonging he has always craved.
The Cows' Rebellion
The cows, having tasted power and blood, become increasingly aggressive and independent. Steven's control over them is challenged by the Guernsey, a rival cow with its own ambitions. The herd's newfound identity is built on violence and domination, mirroring the human world they once fled. Steven's sense of purpose begins to erode as the cows outgrow their need for him.
The Fall of Cripps
Steven lures Cripps into the underground, where he tortures and kills him in front of the herd. The act is both a personal and collective revenge, a symbolic overthrow of the old order. The cows are transformed by the experience, embracing their new identity as predators. Steven, however, finds that the satisfaction of revenge is fleeting, and the emptiness at his core remains.
The Collapse of Happiness
With Lucy gone and the flat in ruins, Steven is left utterly alone. His attempts to build a family and a sense of belonging have failed, and he is haunted by the ghosts of his past. The City becomes a hostile, alien landscape, and Steven is driven to the brink of madness. The herd, once a source of comfort, now represents only the perpetuation of violence and loss.
The Final Transformation
In the end, Steven is cast out from both human and animal society. He returns to the underground, seeking solace among the cows, but finds only emptiness and repetition. The Guernsey is killed in a final struggle for dominance, and Steven assumes control of the herd once more. Yet, the cycle of violence and alienation continues, and the promise of transformation is revealed as a hollow dream. Steven's story ends in a state of perpetual exile, neither fully human nor fully animal, trapped in the ruins of his own desires.
Characters
Steven
Steven is the protagonist, a young man whose psyche has been shattered by years of abuse at the hands of his mother. He is passive, self-loathing, and obsessed with the idea of normalcy as depicted on television. Steven's journey is one of attempted transformation—from victim to perpetrator, from human to animal, from powerless to powerful. His relationships with Lucy, the Hagbeast, and the cows are all attempts to find belonging and meaning, but each ends in failure or horror. Psychologically, Steven is a study in learned helplessness, trauma, and the corrosive effects of violence. His development is marked by cycles of hope, action, and despair, culminating in a final surrender to the very forces he sought to escape.
The Hagbeast (Steven's Mother)
The Hagbeast is Steven's mother, a figure of grotesque physical and emotional abuse. She embodies the inescapable, generational nature of trauma, using food, filth, and violence to dominate her son. Her relationship with Steven is one of mutual hatred and dependency, a toxic bond that neither can break until her death. Psychologically, she represents the internalized voice of self-loathing and the impossibility of escape from one's origins. Her death is both a liberation and a curse for Steven, as her influence lingers even in absence.
Lucy
Lucy is Steven's neighbor and lover, a woman consumed by the belief that emotional pain manifests as physical poison. Her compulsive self-examination and self-mutilation mirror Steven's own sense of contamination. Their relationship is built on mutual need and the hope that love can cure their brokenness, but ultimately collapses under the weight of their respective traumas. Lucy's psychological profile is one of obsessive-compulsive disorder, body dysmorphia, and existential despair. Her suicide is the final blow to Steven's dreams of happiness.
Cripps
Cripps is the foreman at the meat plant, a figure who preaches the gospel of self-realization through killing. He is both mentor and abuser to Steven, initiating him into the cult of violence and sexual domination. Cripps's philosophy is one of nihilistic empowerment, where freedom is achieved by embracing one's darkest impulses. Psychologically, he represents the seductive allure of power and the dangers of unchecked aggression. His death at Steven's hands is both a personal and symbolic overthrow of the old order.
The Guernsey
The Guernsey is a talking cow who becomes Steven's guide and eventual rival in the underground herd. Intelligent and manipulative, the Guernsey seeks to assert its own dominance over the cows, challenging Steven's authority. Its relationship with Steven is marked by mutual suspicion, competition, and a shared understanding of power. Psychologically, the Guernsey represents the animalistic drive for hierarchy and the inevitability of conflict in any society.
Dog
Dog is Steven's only companion, a symbol of unconditional love and loyalty. Crippled by the Hagbeast, Dog's suffering mirrors Steven's own, and its eventual death is a catalyst for Steven's final break with his mother. Dog represents the possibility of innocence and affection in a world otherwise defined by cruelty.
Gummy
Gummy is a worker at the meat plant, disfigured by an encounter with a cow. He serves as both a warning and a victim, ultimately killed by Steven in a ritualized act of violence. Gummy's character highlights the dehumanizing effects of the slaughterhouse and the ease with which victims become perpetrators.
The Roan Cow
The roan cow is a member of the underground herd who becomes particularly attached to Steven. She represents the herd's longing for leadership and transformation, as well as the blurring of boundaries between human and animal. Her relationship with Steven is both sexual and symbolic, embodying the herd's surrender to his guidance.
The Underground Herd
The Underground Herd of escaped cows represents a collective consciousness shaped by trauma and the search for meaning. They are both victims and perpetrators, oscillating between passivity and aggression. Their relationship with Steven is one of dependency and worship, but also of eventual rebellion and self-assertion.
The City
The City is an omnipresent force in the novel, representing the outside world that is both desired and feared by Steven and the other characters. It is a place of unattainable normalcy, constant threat, and ultimate indifference to suffering.
Plot Devices
Grotesque Realism and Body Horror
Stokoe uses graphic descriptions of bodily functions, filth, and violence to externalize the characters' internal states. The recurring motif of poison, shit, and mutilation serves as a metaphor for the inescapable nature of trauma and the futility of attempts at purification. The body becomes a battleground where psychological wounds are made literal.
Cycles of Abuse and Revenge
The narrative structure is built on cycles of abuse, resistance, and revenge. Each character, in turn, becomes both victim and abuser, perpetuating the cycle of violence. The slaughterhouse, the kitchen, and the underground all serve as stages for these rituals, blurring the lines between human and animal, oppressor and oppressed.
Surrealism and Anthropomorphism
The introduction of talking cows and their secret society beneath the city adds a surreal, allegorical dimension to the narrative. The cows' rebellion mirrors the human characters' struggles for autonomy and identity, while also satirizing the search for meaning in a world defined by suffering.
Foreshadowing and Escalation
Stokoe employs foreshadowing to build a sense of impending doom and transformation. Early scenes of abuse and filth hint at the eventual eruption of violence, while the characters' obsessions and compulsions escalate inexorably toward self-destruction. The narrative is structured as a series of increasingly extreme confrontations, each raising the stakes and narrowing the possibilities for escape.
TV and Media as False Salvation
Television functions as both a mirror and a false promise for Steven, offering images of happiness and normalcy that are forever out of reach. The gap between the world on TV and the reality of Steven's life underscores the novel's themes of alienation, longing, and the impossibility of true transformation.
Analysis
Matthew Stokoe's Cows is a brutal, transgressive exploration of trauma, power, and the search for identity in a world defined by filth and violence. Through its relentless depiction of abuse, bodily horror, and the collapse of boundaries between human and animal, the novel interrogates the cycles of suffering that shape individual and collective existence. Steven's journey—from passive victim to violent leader, from human to animal, from seeker of love to agent of destruction—serves as a dark allegory for the ways in which trauma begets trauma, and the impossibility of escaping one's origins. The novel's use of grotesque realism, surreal allegory, and cyclical narrative structure challenges readers to confront the realities of abuse, the seductive allure of power, and the futility of seeking salvation in violence or fantasy. In the end, Cows offers no easy answers or redemption—only the bleak recognition that, in a world built on suffering, the search for purity or belonging may itself be a form of self-destruction.
Last updated:
FAQ
Synopsis & Basic Details
What is Cows about?
- A Descent into Depravity: Cows by Matthew Stokoe follows Steven, a young man trapped in a squalid apartment with his abusive mother, the Hagbeast. His life is a cycle of physical and psychological torment, leading him to seek escape and transformation through increasingly violent and transgressive acts.
- Search for Normalcy: Steven's only connection to an idealized world is through television, which fuels his desperate desire for a "normal" life with love, family, and belonging, a stark contrast to his reality.
- Unraveling Boundaries: The narrative blurs the lines between human and animal, victim and perpetrator, as Steven's journey takes him from a dehumanizing meat plant to an underground society of sentient cows, culminating in a brutal quest for power and self-definition.
Why should I read Cows?
- Unflinching Psychological Depth: For readers seeking a raw, unflinching exploration of trauma, abuse, and the human psyche's capacity for both suffering and extreme violence, Cows offers a disturbing yet compelling narrative. It delves into the corrosive effects of a toxic upbringing and the desperate measures one might take to escape it.
- Transgressive and Provocative: The novel is a landmark work of transgressive fiction, pushing boundaries with its graphic depictions of body horror, sexual violence, and cannibalism. It challenges readers to confront uncomfortable truths about power, control, and the animalistic impulses within humanity.
- Unique Allegorical Layers: Beyond its shock value, Cows employs surrealism and anthropomorphism, particularly through its talking cows and their underground society, to create a dark allegory about societal structures, rebellion, and the search for identity in a dehumanizing world.
What is the background of Cows?
- Urban Decay Setting: The story is set in a decaying, unnamed city, where Steven's squalid apartment and the industrial meat plant reflect a pervasive sense of urban blight and societal neglect. This backdrop amplifies the characters' isolation and desperation.
- Psychological Realism: While featuring surreal elements, the novel grounds its horror in a stark psychological realism, exploring themes of generational trauma, learned helplessness, and the psychological impact of extreme abuse, drawing on the dark underbelly of human experience.
- Late 20th Century Transgression: Published in 1997, Cows emerged from a period of transgressive literature that sought to shock and provoke, often using extreme content to critique societal norms and explore the darker aspects of human nature, aligning with authors like Dennis Cooper (who wrote the introduction to the 2011 edition).
What are the most memorable quotes in Cows?
- "Meat doesn't have the brains. It just works till it dies or until someone cuts it up.": Cripps's chilling philosophy (Chapter 4) encapsulates the novel's dehumanizing view of existence, suggesting that life is merely a functional, disposable state, a theme central to Cows analysis.
- "Our hearts are only two pounds, not much room for love.": Lucy's poignant observation (Chapter 5) highlights the pervasive sense of emotional emptiness and the characters' struggle to connect, underscoring the novel's exploration of themes in Cows related to intimacy and despair.
- "Killing frees you to live as you should.": Cripps's core teaching (Chapter 8) reveals the seductive, nihilistic promise of violence as a path to self-realization, a key driver for Steven's motivations and the novel's exploration of power.
What writing style, narrative choices, and literary techniques does Matthew Stokoe use?
- Visceral, Unflinching Prose: Stokoe employs a stark, direct, and highly descriptive prose style, particularly in detailing bodily functions, gore, and decay. This grotesque realism immerses the reader in Steven's repulsive world, making the psychological horror palpable.
- Limited Third-Person Perspective: The narrative primarily follows Steven's internal experience, often blurring the lines between his perception, fantasy, and reality. This subjective viewpoint amplifies his isolation and the distorted lens through which he views the world, contributing to the novel's psychological complexity.
- Symbolic Repetition and Juxtaposition: Stokoe frequently uses recurring motifs like TV imagery, animalistic comparisons, and the cycle of consumption/excretion to underscore themes of societal conditioning, the breakdown of human identity, and the inescapable nature of trauma. The juxtaposition of mundane domesticity with extreme violence is a recurring narrative choice.
Hidden Details & Subtle Connections
What are some minor details that add significant meaning?
- Dog's Crippled State: The Hagbeast crippling Dog with a brick "for no reason at all" (Chapter 2) is a subtle but potent foreshadowing of her arbitrary cruelty and Steven's learned helplessness. It establishes the mother's absolute power and Steven's inability to protect even his most beloved companion, setting the stage for his later, more extreme actions.
- Lucy's Surgical Instruments: The "shiny steel and surgical in nature" objects scattered in Lucy's flat (Chapter 10) are not just props for her obsession but symbolize a desperate, almost scientific, attempt to dissect and understand internal pain. This detail highlights her intellectualization of trauma, contrasting with Steven's more visceral, reactive approach.
- The Flat's "Autistic" Nature: The description of Steven's building as "shuttered and autistic" (Chapter 5) subtly personifies the oppressive environment, reflecting Steven's own social isolation and inability to connect with the outside world. It suggests the building itself is a character, mirroring the psychological state of its inhabitants.
What are some subtle foreshadowing and callbacks?
- Steven's Early Fantasies of Violence: In Chapter 1, Steven's internal rage includes wanting to "tie her legs apart and take a hammer to her cunt," a dark foreshadowing of the extreme, degrading violence he eventually inflicts upon the Hagbeast. This early thought reveals the deep-seated aggression simmering beneath his passivity.
- Gummy's Mutilation Story: Gummy's graphic account of a cow biting off his lips (Chapter 4) serves as a chilling premonition of the blurred boundaries between human and animal, and the potential for animals to inflict violence. It subtly hints at the cows' later sentience and their capacity for revenge, a key element in Cows symbolism.
- The Hagbeast's "Infection" Claim: When the Hagbeast tells Steven, "I used to live out there before you infected my cunt" (Chapter 12), it's a callback to Lucy's "poison" theory and foreshadows Steven's own later belief that he is a source of contamination. This reinforces the cyclical nature of their toxic relationship and the idea of inherited trauma in Cows analysis.
What are some unexpected character connections?
- Cripps and the Hagbeast as Parallel Abusers: Cripps, the foreman, and the Hagbeast, Steven's mother, are unexpectedly mirrored figures. Both are dominant, sadistic, and use degradation to control Steven, albeit in different contexts. Cripps's "slaughter room" philosophy of power through violence directly parallels the Hagbeast's domestic tyranny, showing how Steven's external world reflects his internal one.
- Dog as Steven's Surrogate Self: Dog, crippled by the Hagbeast, acts as a physical manifestation of Steven's own impotence and suffering. Its eventual sacrificial death (Chapter 20) is not just a plot point but a symbolic act of Steven reclaiming agency, as Dog's demise directly fuels his final, decisive act against his mother. This highlights Dog's role beyond a mere pet, as a crucial supporting character in Steven's psychological journey.
- The Guernsey as a Twisted Mentor: While Cripps is Steven's human mentor in violence, the Guernsey cow becomes his animalistic counterpart, guiding him through the underground world and challenging his perceptions of power. Their relationship evolves from a warning to a partnership, then to a rivalry, demonstrating a complex, unexpected connection that transcends species.
Who are the most significant supporting characters?
- Cripps, the Catalyst for Transformation: Cripps is pivotal as the primary external force pushing Steven towards violence as a means of self-realization. His "slaughter party" philosophy and the ritualistic sexual assault (Chapter 13) are direct catalysts for Steven's decision to kill his mother and embrace his own predatory nature, making him central to Steven's motivations.
- Lucy, the Mirror of Internal Decay: Lucy serves as Steven's emotional and psychological mirror, reflecting his own obsession with internal "poison" and the desire for purification. Her self-destructive quest for purity and eventual suicide (Chapter 33) directly shatters Steven's fragile illusion of normalcy, forcing him to confront the futility of his TV-inspired dreams and driving him further into his violent path.
- The Guernsey, the Rival and Guide: The Guernsey is more than just a talking animal; it's a cunning, ambitious leader who both guides Steven into the cows' underground society and eventually challenges his authority. Its pragmatic, self-serving nature provides a counterpoint to Cripps's nihilism and Steven's desperate longing, highlighting the inherent power struggles within any hierarchy, even an animal one.
Psychological, Emotional, & Relational Analysis
What are some unspoken motivations of the characters?
- Steven's Craving for Control: Beyond just "normalcy," Steven's deepest unspoken motivation is an overwhelming desire for control over his own life and environment, a direct response to years of absolute domination by the Hagbeast. His acts of violence, from poisoning his mother to leading the cows, are desperate attempts to assert agency and prevent further violation, a core aspect of Steven's motivations.
- The Hagbeast's Need for Perpetual Victimhood: The Hagbeast's relentless abuse of Steven, even when it clearly harms her (like eating his shit), suggests an unspoken motivation to maintain her identity as a victimizer, perhaps as a way to cope with her own past trauma. Her "wound of your birth" (Chapter 7) implies a deep-seated pain that she projects onto Steven, needing him to remain her captive audience and source of suffering.
- Lucy's Pursuit of Existential Validation: Lucy's obsession with "poison" and her self-mutilation are driven by an unspoken need to find a tangible, physical explanation for her profound internal suffering and alienation. Her desperate search for a "black stone" (Chapter 33) is a quest for existential validation, a belief that if she can excise the physical manifestation of her pain, she can finally be "clean" and therefore worthy of happiness.
What psychological complexities do the characters exhibit?
- Steven's Dissociation and Identity Diffusion: Steven frequently experiences dissociation, blurring his own outline with the environment (Chapter 3) or phasing out during traumatic events (Chapter 16). This psychological complexity reflects his fragmented sense of self, a defense mechanism against overwhelming abuse, and his struggle to form a coherent identity outside the Hagbeast's influence.
- Cripps's Sadistic Altruism: Cripps exhibits a complex blend of sadism and a twisted form of altruism, genuinely believing he is "freeing" men by initiating them into violence. His exultation in the slaughter room (Chapter 16) suggests a profound psychological conviction that embracing one's darkest impulses is the ultimate path to power and self-knowledge, making him a fascinating study in corrupted mentorship.
- Lucy's Somatic Delusion: Lucy's belief that emotional trauma manifests as physical "poison" (Chapter 5) is a profound somatic delusion. This psychological complexity drives her self-destructive behavior, as she attempts to literally cut out her internal pain, highlighting the extreme lengths to which a traumatized mind might go to externalize and control its suffering.
What are the major emotional turning points?
- Dog's Crippling as a Catalyst for Steven's Impotence: The moment the Hagbeast cripples Dog (Chapter 2) is a major emotional turning point for Steven, solidifying his childhood suspicion that he was "incapable of manipulating life as other people did." This event cements his deep-seated fear and powerlessness, setting the stage for his later desperate search for strength.
- Steven's First Punch at the Hagbeast: Steven hitting the Hagbeast (Chapter 12) marks a critical emotional shift from passive victim to active aggressor. This act, though small, shatters years of conditioning and ignites a "glory... burning about him," signaling his first taste of agency and the beginning of his violent transformation.
- Lucy's Suicide and Steven's Despair: Lucy's death (Chapter 33) is a devastating emotional turning point for Steven, plunging him into profound despair and stripping away his carefully constructed illusion of a "normal" life. Her death signifies the collapse of his dreams of love and family, forcing him to confront utter loneliness and driving him back to the only source of power he knows: the cows.
How do relationship dynamics evolve?
- Steven and Hagbeast: From Domination to Reversal: Their relationship evolves from the Hagbeast's absolute physical and psychological domination over Steven to a grotesque power struggle, culminating in Steven's successful, albeit horrifying, reversal of roles. The "shit-eating contest" (Chapter 14) is the symbolic climax of this shift, where Steven asserts control through an act of extreme degradation.
- Steven and Cripps: From Mentor-Abuser to Avenging Pupil: Initially, Cripps acts as Steven's mentor, initiating him into the "cult of killing" and sexually abusing him, establishing a dynamic of power and submission. However, this evolves into Steven using Cripps's own teachings against him, ultimately leading to Cripps's torture and death (Chapter 24), a complex act of both revenge and twisted homage.
- Steven and the Cows: From Savior to Rival: Steven's relationship with the underground herd begins with him as their reluctant agent of revenge, then evolves into him becoming their "God" and leader, providing them with a new identity through violence. This dynamic is constantly challenged by the ambitious Guernsey, leading to a final struggle for dominance (Chapter 38), illustrating the inherent instability of power and the cyclical nature of conflict.
Interpretation & Debate
Which parts of the story remain ambiguous or open-ended?
- The Nature of the "Poison": Lucy's central obsession with a physical "poison" inside her body (Chapter 5, 10, 33) remains ambiguous. Is it a literal, albeit fantastical, manifestation of trauma, or a purely psychological delusion? The novel never definitively confirms its existence, leaving readers to debate whether her self-mutilation is a futile act against a non-existent threat or a desperate, if misguided, attempt at purification.
- Steven's True Transformation: The ending leaves open whether Steven has truly "transformed" into a new, powerful being, or if he has simply descended further into madness and animalistic depravity. While he feels "like a god" (Chapter 38), his actions are increasingly monstrous, prompting debate on whether his journey is one of liberation or ultimate corruption, a key question in Cows ending explained.
- The Cows' Sentience and Agency: The extent of the cows' sentience and their true motivations remain somewhat ambiguous. Are they truly intelligent, self-aware beings with a complex society, or are they a projection of Steven's fractured psyche and a symbolic representation of primal urges? Their ability to speak and organize challenges conventional reality, inviting interpretive debate on the novel's allegorical depth.
What are some debatable, controversial scenes or moments in Cows?
- The Shit-Eating Contest: The scene where Steven and the Hagbeast force each other to eat excrement (Chapter 14) is arguably the most controversial. It pushes the boundaries of grotesque realism to an extreme, forcing readers to confront the ultimate degradation of their relationship. Debate often centers on whether this scene is gratuitous or a necessary, visceral representation of their toxic, mutually destructive bond.
- Cripps's Sexual Assault on Steven: The scene where Cripps sexually assaults Steven during a cow slaughter (Chapter 13) is highly debatable. While it serves as a catalyst for Steven's transformation and blurs the lines between violence and sex, its graphic nature and the power dynamics involved raise questions about its narrative purpose and potential for exploitation.
- Lucy's Self-Mutilation and Fetus: Lucy's self-inflicted surgery to remove her "poison" and the subsequent discovery of a "yellow fetus corpse" (Chapter 33) is deeply disturbing. This moment sparks debate about the novel's portrayal of mental illness, female body horror, and the destruction of innocence, challenging readers to grapple with the extreme consequences of unchecked psychological torment.
Cows Ending Explained: How It Ends & What It Means
- The Cycle of Abuse and Revenge Continues: The novel ends with Steven killing the Guernsey, his last rival, and reclaiming leadership of the herd, poised to lead them in further acts of violence. This suggests that Steven's journey is not one of escape or redemption, but a perpetuation of the very cycles of abuse and domination he experienced. The Cows ending explained reveals a bleak, cyclical reality where power is constantly contested and violence is the only means of control.
- Steven's Embrace of Animalistic Power: Steven's final state is one of complete immersion in the cows' world, feeling "the glory of motion and power, his expansion into being" (Chapter 38). This signifies his ultimate surrender to his primal, animalistic urges, finding a twisted form of "safety" and "love" in leading a herd of violent beasts. The meaning is that he has shed his human aspirations for normalcy, embracing a new, monstrous identity.
- A Bleak, Self-Contained Universe: With Lucy dead and his flat destroyed, Steven's world has shrunk to the underground tunnels and the herd. The ending implies that he has created a self-contained universe where his desires for power and belonging can be fulfilled, free from the "comparison with the outside" (Chapter 38). This means his "perfect life" is achieved not through conventional means, but through a horrifying, isolated existence built on violence and control, a dark commentary on the futility of his initial dreams.
Review Summary
Cows by Matthew Stokoe is a highly controversial and divisive novel that pushes the boundaries of extreme horror. Readers describe it as disturbing, grotesque, and filled with graphic violence and perversion. While some praise its artistic merit, unique vision, and commentary on societal issues, others find it gratuitously shocking and poorly written. The book follows Steven, a troubled young man working in a slaughterhouse, and features themes of abuse, alienation, and the search for meaning. Many reviewers warn that it is not for the faint of heart.
Similar Books
Download PDF
Download EPUB
.epub digital book format is ideal for reading ebooks on phones, tablets, and e-readers.
