Borders Unbound: Cultural and Political Borders in Lawrence Osborne’s Beautiful Animals

Abstract

Lawrence Osborne’s Beautiful Animals, published in 2017, is the story of two youngwomen holidaying on a Greek Island. The American citizen Samantha and the British citizenNaomi befriend each other during their summer break when they find Faoud, a Syrianrefugee washed on the shores of the island. Faoud turns into their summer project. They findhim an abandoned home in a village and cherish him with food and drink every day.However, the project fails and they find themselves in a psychologically traumaticadventure that forces them to question the cultural, political and even psychological bordersof what they dare to do. This paper focuses on the anxiety of the young women over Faoud’sexistence that prompts crucial cultural and political questions. In analysing the novel fromthe perspective of Sartre’s existentialism, the paper also questions the cultural, political andgeographical borders as well as the behavioural and psychological limits of what one can dofor self-protection.