Rhesus monkeys

The rhesus monkey is remembered as Alexander A. Gideon’s closest companion during an isolated childhood at the Gideon estate. Its death at the hands of his father ended that companionship and left a memorial that, like the estate itself, later fell into ruin.

Companion in an Isolated Childhood

As a child, Alexander lived largely apart from other children on the estate. The narrative describes him as having no mother, brother, or friend there apart from his rhesus monkey. The animal’s presence therefore marks more than a detail of domestic life: it was his sole named companion in a childhood shaped by solitude.

Death and Childhood Memory

Alexander’s father killed the monkey. Years later, Alexander recalled that the last time he had hidden and wept unseen beneath the back stairs was after this loss. The memory places the animal’s death among the formative sorrows of his childhood, and links it to the hiding place where he sought refuge.

The Ruined Memorial

After the monkey died, Alexander erected a mausoleum-like monument over its grave. By the time Boaz Brandstetter returned to the estate, the memorial had itself become a ruin. Boaz kept a tortoise there, which he had found for his daughter. The site thus carries successive traces of the estate’s past: a child’s grief, the decay of the place where he grew up, and a later generation’s modest use of its remnants.